Blue Jay still visiting. Seeing a subtle change in House Finches & Am Goldfinches with both getting a bit more color. And, the 2 Harris’ Sparrows are each getting more black coloration to throat area.

Pine Siskins are emptying the thistle feeder twice a day. A few more Am Robin’s appear each day, Townsend’s Solitaires still present & Red-winged Blackbird males are arriving. A noticable change from previous winters is a lack of DE Juncos. The most I see at one time is 5. Big difference from past years.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

A Bird in Hand

By Tom McCabe

Whenever there’s lots of snow falling down,

That can sometimes cause me to frown.

Shoveling isn’t always easy

It frequently makes my back quite queasy.

But then I see my backyard friends

Consuming seed like it never ends.

They trust in me to get them through

Juncos and Siskins to name a few.

I shovel a path to my birdseed stash

And fill the feeders quick as a flash.

They don’t seem to mind my presence at all

So I grab a handful and move at a crawl.

Until I’m next to the shepherd’s crooks

With all the feeders on their hooks.

I very slowly hold out my hand

Hoping one of them will lightly land.

It takes a while, my arm gets tired

But then one lands, and I’m inspired.

He sits on my glove, just inches from my face

And snatches food ’til there’s not a trace

Then he flies away with a quick little flutter

And leaves my heart melting just like butter.

I walk away with birds all around me,

As once again they’ve made me happy.

That tiny little Siskin had no weight,

But he really added some spring to my gait.

As I took up my shovel and attacked the snow

There’s a smile on my face with every throw.

Sounds like we need to have whole corn kernels to lure that Blue Jay away from Brian, Patty!
We have more LEGOs than AMGOs, plus PISIs, HOFIs, HOSPs, BCCHs, and a few DEJUs at our feeders in IF.
Missed you at conformation practice Patty!

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

On Feb 17, 2019, at 11:20 AM, Patty GAILEY triadcorgis@msn.com [ible] wrote:

We have plenty of Pine Siskins to share. They are vying with the American Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches for a spot at the finch feeders. Surprisingly, the Legos outnumber everyone.

Far fewer juncos this year than ever before.

I wish Brian’s Blue Jay would wander a bit farther afield. Would love to see him here.

Patty Gailey
Blackfoot
(East of Blackfoot near the Blackfoot River)

Sent from Windows Mail

Fascinating, what a few miles difference makes. Patty’s report of Lesser Goldfinches makes me envious. And, as the crow flies, our places couldn’t be more than 15 mi apart & I have yet to see a Lesser Goldfinch at our place.

I’ve been looking closely, for the past month, at all the American Goldfinches (30+) & the Pine Siskins (20+) & no Lessers. I’ll try to encourage my Blue Jay to make a quick bird-exchange visit to you for a few of your Lessers heading my way, lol. A new arrival today was a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Haven’t heard one in sev months.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot (west of, near Snake River)

We have plenty of Pine Siskins to share. They are vying with the American Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches for a spot at the finch feeders. Surprisingly, the Legos outnumber everyone.

Far fewer juncos this year than ever before.

I wish Brian’s Blue Jay would wander a bit farther afield. Would love to see him here.

Patty Gailey
Blackfoot
(East of Blackfoot near the Blackfoot River)

Sent from Windows Mail

I stopped at Coeur d’Alene City Beach late Saturday afternoon and was
pleased to find a first-cycle KUMLIEN’S ICELAND GULL, a Thayer’s Iceland
Gull, and a nice adult MEW GULL that posed well. There were quite a lot of
waterfowl and other birds around including a flock of Canvasbacks at
Independence Point. Gull pics in eBird:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52795335.

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID

Glad a Pine Siskin showed up your way, Larry! Their numbers just keep increasing at my feeders. I had over 20 emptying the thistle feeder twice today. They’ll also go after the black oil sunflower seeds but thistle is their favorite. When a flock of siskins took to the air & into the treetops, there were easily 35+ birds present.

Also saw an American Robin with a leukistic face. And a very orange male House Finch. The Blue Jay continues its daily visits & prefers, above all else, whole corn kernels.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Tom, Brian, are either of you missing a siskin this morning? 😉

One just now showed up at our feeders
a first since mid-November
yay, finally!

Larry, W Boise, with a light dusting of snow

From: “‘Tom McCabe’ tmccabe9@cableone.net [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2019 10:37:57 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Pine Siskins!

Apparently the trail of bread crumbs and seeds that I put out from my house to Brian’s in Blackfoot has finally worked. Today I had my first Pine Siskin in ages. He didn’t stay long, but now I know they’re here. I’m hoping we’ll get the numbers we had a few years ago where they would eat out of my hand. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise

Today has seen more Pine Siskin visitors. I had about 10 coming into the feeders, again, all quite tame. Then, I got distracted by a flyover of 3 Rough-legged Hawks. Followed by heading down to the river where I watched Common Goldeneyes diving for a bit.

On the way back to the house a group of small, chatty birds flew into the top if a cottonwood & started eating buds. I counted at least 20 more Pine Siskins. And, then 2 groups of larger birds came in, taking over & pushing the Siskins out. About 30 Cedar Waxwings in 2 different groups. The Blue Jay is still coming in, as well.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

The other day it was just one Pine Siskin. Today it’s about a dozen, along
with a slew of American Goldfinches, Lessers, House Finches (RED against the
snow), and Mourning Doves, A. Robins, and N. Flickers. We have rudbeckia all
over the yard that we allowed to die in place and dry out, so now it
provides a lattice work of perches and feeding stations. All the different
finches love the rudbeckia seed pods. What’s amazing is that they barely
bend the branches when they land. Way cool.

BTW, yesterday was also a good day for birds in the back yard, so when the
streets cleared I had to get on my bike. I thought I would stay in the North
End, but dry streets and more birds got me as far as Esther Simplot (and a
few icy patches that caused some concern). But what was great is that I got
my 30 birds in less than 6 miles, including a Say’s Phoebe flying around
near the greenbelt underpass, and then a flyover by a Bald Eagle. Now if he
would just fly over my house today, that would be even better. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise