I walked up the West Fork of Mink Creek Trail on Caribou National Forest on
a beautiful, sunny morning Saturday. Three pine grosbeaks were the bird
highlight of the walk. There were almost as many red-breasted nuthatches as
mountain chickadees and pine siskins were all over the place. A few
Cassin’s finches and red crossbills flew over. The non-bird highlight was a
yearling moose about 50′ away.

Steven F. Kahl
Deputy Project Leader
Southeast Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex
4425 Burley Dr., Ste. A
Chubbuck, ID 83202
C (208) 252-0805
P (208) 237-6615 ext 112
F (208) 237-8213

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I spent the last hour of Saturday daylight scanning the lake and sorting
through gulls at CDA City Beach. 600-700 gulls were present, dominated by
the expected Ring-billed Gulls, a good count of up to 250 Herring Gulls,
very few California Gulls, and highlighted by a continuing first-cycle
“KUMLIEN’S” ICELAND GULL, at least several “Thayer’s” Iceland Gulls (likely
more hiding among the Hergs), an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, and an
adult MEW GULL. 1-2 drake RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS were in the area, and a
drake GREATER SCAUP was directly off Independence Point.

The Lake CDA region remains in deep winter, and it’s hard to believe that
Violet-green and Tree Swallows should be trying to arrive any day…….

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID

Neighbor & I took a long drive yesterday covering the Lost River Range. We were on the look for wildlife & birds & weren’t disappointed. Our best sighting was a wolf from 2 & 1/2 mi away. Dark gray back and light gray sides & belly through the spotting scope. We could watch it howl with the scope & it took to the count of 13 for the sound to reach us. We closed the distance by a mile on snowshoes but couldn’t get any decent photos. Then a second wolf howling attracted its attention & it moved from a sunny snowfield into a forested slope.

Birdwise: Rough-legged Hawks are staging, Golden Eagles were fairly common, as were Balds. Saw Prairie Falcons & 1 gray phase Gyrfalcon. I’m sure it will be gone soon with the Rough-leggeds, headed back to the Arctic. If interested in the Gyr, contact me but will say, must have truck-sized 4WD (or will high-center), be prepared to cover many miles with no guarantees & confidence driving on snow/ice.

At home: Blue Jay, Am Goldfinches, Townsend’s Solitaire, Pine Siskins & Trumpeter Swans both flyovers & on Snake River.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Nathan Palmer of Moscow found a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER in central Moscow on
Wednesday afternoon. I easily relocated it near the intersection of Polk
and B Street, this morning. The face pattern and apparent lack of black on
the breast look good for a “pure” individual. I believe this is a third
record for Latah County, and a statewide review species. Thanks to Nathan
for the great find.

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, Idaho

Interesting note about your collared doves, Steve.
They’re still increasing in number in our hood, west Boise.
2600 ft elevation here…
Larry

From: “Steve Kahl Steve_Kahl@fws.gov [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2019 9:29:32 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Subtle changes- Pocatello

The influx of pine siskins reported in the Blackfoot area has been
occurring around Pocatello the past couple weeks. I had been seeing
6-12 siskins at my feeders all winter. Now there are usually 60-80,
with a high count of 130!

I started out the winter with a song sparrow, spotted towhee and a
Harris’s sparrow visiting my feeders but they petered out by mid
January. Although I have some good brush on the slope behind my yard.
I figured the birds left because the brush wasn’t thick enough for the
coldest parts of winter and there wasn’t good enough water for them…
Lo and behold all three were beneath my feeders at the same time this
morning. The Harris’s sparrow (an immature) had quite a bit more black
on its face than the last time I saw it.

Paramyxovirus seems to have swept through the Eurasian collared doves
in my neighborhood. The neighbor down the street used to strew buckets
of mixed seed on the ground for them. Consequently, during my backyard
bird counts I would often count 30-50 collared doves in the big
cottonwoods near their yard. I thought it not a good sign when I
started seeing birds that acted more lethargic. Now I only see 1 or 2
collared doves at most.

Sent from my iPhone

The influx of pine siskins reported in the Blackfoot area has been
occurring around Pocatello the past couple weeks. I had been seeing
6-12 siskins at my feeders all winter. Now there are usually 60-80,
with a high count of 130!

I started out the winter with a song sparrow, spotted towhee and a
Harris’s sparrow visiting my feeders but they petered out by mid
January. Although I have some good brush on the slope behind my yard.
I figured the birds left because the brush wasn’t thick enough for the
coldest parts of winter and there wasn’t good enough water for them..
Lo and behold all three were beneath my feeders at the same time this
morning. The Harris’s sparrow (an immature) had quite a bit more black
on its face than the last time I saw it.

Paramyxovirus seems to have swept through the Eurasian collared doves
in my neighborhood. The neighbor down the street used to strew buckets
of mixed seed on the ground for them. Consequently, during my backyard
bird counts I would often count 30-50 collared doves in the big
cottonwoods near their yard. I thought it not a good sign when I
started seeing birds that acted more lethargic. Now I only see 1 or 2
collared doves at most.

Sent from my iPhone

Tell them to come down to Idaho Falls.

MaDWhitham
It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years!!!

On Feb 24, 2019, at 9:33 AM, Barbara Harp salmonrvr@yahoo.com [ible] wrote:

I have 300 to 400 black rosy finches here. I saw one gray crowned in the pack a couple of days ago, so that’s quite a ratio. Doing my best to keep them away from my nyjer feeders. They sure do chow down! I am just below Mackay Reservoir.

No juncos, no pine siskins, just RFs.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

Barbara, we feel sooooo sorry for you!! 😉

Some of the ski areas in Colorado had this “problem” as well; surprised they didn’t get more birders than skiers.

Thx for sharing this awesome photo!

Larry

From: “Barbara Harp salmonrvr@yahoo.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2019 9:33:49 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Black Rosy Finches…in Spades!

I have 300 to 400 black rosy finches here. I saw one gray crowned in the pack a couple of days ago, so that’s quite a ratio. Doing my best to keep them away from my nyjer feeders. They sure do chow down! I am just below Mackay Reservoir.

No juncos, no pine siskins, just RFs.

[ https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS | Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad ]

I have 300 to 400 black rosy finches here. I saw one gray crowned in the pack a couple of days ago, so that’s quite a ratio.  Doing my best to keep them away from my nyjer feeders.  They sure do chow down!  I am just below Mackay Reservoir.
No juncos, no pine siskins, just RFs.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

Curious to know if anyone else is seeing more Black Rosy-Finches than usual. Over the previous 20-25 winters we’ve recorded mixed flocks of Black and Grey-crowned RFs in C. Idaho having an average ratio of 1 Black to 40 G-c. Historic ratios form a classic bell-shaped curve with 1 s.d. ranging from 1:20 to 1:60.

This year we’re tallying slightly lower daily totals but the ratio of Black to G-c RF has greatly increased. During the past several days our high (at-one-time) counts show ratios of Black to G-c RF ranging between 1:2 and 1:5 with as many as 14 Black RF at one time. Is anyone else feeding and/or seeing more Black RF than usual?