Again, with apologies to real poets, I offer some rhymes about birds.

New Year’s Birding

By Tom McCabe

The wind was cold, the sun was low

And ice was slowing the river’s flow.

The year was starting with quiet events

As Dark-eyed Juncos perched on my fence.

Other birds came and joined the crowd

But only the Crow was very loud.

Time to jump on my two-wheeled steed

Biking and birding is a constant need.

Finches and Doves along the way,

A Downy Woodpecker brightened my day.

Ducks and Geese and Chickadees

My year was starting with the greatest of ease.

Seeing a bird for the first time each year

Brings every birder a bit of cheer.

So going birding on January One

Means lots of cheer and lots of fun.

Herons and Hawks and a Ring-necked Duck

Nuthatch and Robins and a bit of luck.

On the first day of birding even a Starling

Can end up being quite the darling.

So get out the door and open your eyes,

Grab the binos and scan the skies,

‘Cause just in case you haven’t heard

Every flyer today is a first of year bird.

brrrrrrrrrr ~ ~ ~ 10F in our hood at the moment, will need Hot Hands and Hot Feet for birding today!

Folks, The Barred Owl, possibly the same individual that has been seen over the last three years, was photographed on 12/31 at the same location in a city park on E. side of Boise. Most of you IBLE’rs can guess this parks name.
( I prefer not to widely broadcast its exact location.)
Happy Tails, Rich Rusnak, Nampa
Sent from Mail for Windows 10

I was wondering if anyone here could provide any insight on why the
locator pin for the American Falls Reservoir hotspot is located in
Bannock County. I ask in this forum because so many observers for high
counts, first records, and rarities for the hotspot are names that I
often see here. Also, I emailed eBird about it twice and never got a
reply.

I’m curious because the pin is not really located in the center of the
reservoir. Bannock County does not look like it occupies more of the
reservoir than other counties, like Power or Bingham. Also, the
shoreline of the reservoir that is in Bannock County is entirely
within the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and not accessible to the
general public.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Sent from my iPhone

Thank You – Jay – for your maps of local CBC areas (Boise, Bruneau) *and* for summarizing preliminary results!!

These are the *best* emails to enjoy with a first-of-day cuppa tea or coffee! =)

Larry

From: “Jay Carlisle carlislejay@yahoo.com [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 8:00:08 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Bruneau CBC preliminary results – can anyone add any count week birds? [1 Attachment]

[ [ https://mail2.cableone.net/mail#TopText | Attachment(s) ] from Jay Carlisle included below]

Hi IBLE

Yesterday, ~30 birders enjoyed birding around Bruneau & the CJ Strike reservoir ( CBC area map attached ) on a pretty darn nice day for Dec 29 – followed by a delicious dinner at the Y Bar cafe in Grand View. Preliminary count is 99 species on count day, including a number of fun finds – here’s a sampling of what stood out from the list ( at least in my mind :-):

* Trumpeter & Tundra Swans
* 2 Common Loons
* 4 owl species ( but no Short-eared, as usual recently )
* Bewick’s Wren ( @ Jack’s Creek ) – possibly a count first? Almost certainly the same individual found there by Cheryl on an Audubon field trip last month
* 2 Say’s Phoebes
* 8 Ferruginous Hawks
* 8 sparrow species ( not counting junco & towhee, which were also seen ), including:

* American Tree
* Harris’s ( just S of Bruneau R along hwy 51 )
* Lincoln’s
* Savannah
* Swamp ( @ Jack’s Creek )
* White-throated ( @ Jack’s Creek )
*
4 Lesser Goldfinch
* 6 Mountain Bluebirds
We did have a few somewhat surprising “misses” on the day, including:

* several waterfowl, including Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, & Redhead
* Black-capped Chickadee – can sometimes be found in trees in town of Bruneau … or any other patches of deciduous trees, just usually not in pure Russian Olive stands
* Townsend’s Solitaire – especially in junipers
* Northern Shrike
* Orange-crowned Warbler
This Christmas count usually doesn’t get much “count week” action since most/all participants don’t live there but I figure there might be some birders that visited Wed-Fri of this last week (26th-28th) and/or might visit in the 3 days after the count ( today through Tues, Jan 1 ). If anyone does visit ( or has already visited ) within the bounds of the count circle b/t Dec 26 & Jan 1 and sees any of these species, please let me know.

Thanks & happy new year!

Jay

Hi IBLE
Yesterday, ~30 birders enjoyed birding around Bruneau & the CJ Strike reservoir (CBC area map attached) on a pretty darn nice day for Dec 29 – followed by a delicious dinner at the Y Bar cafe in Grand View.  Preliminary count is 99 species on count day, including a number of fun finds – here’s a sampling of what stood out from the list (at least in my mind :-):
– Trumpeter & Tundra Swans
– 2 Common Loons

– 4 owl species (but no Short-eared, as usual recently)
– Bewick’s Wren (@ Jack’s Creek) – possibly a count first?  Almost certainly the same individual found there by Cheryl on an Audubon field trip last month

– 2 Say’s Phoebes
– 8 Ferruginous Hawks

– 8 sparrow species (not counting junco & towhee, which were also seen), including:

– American Tree
– Harris’s (just S of Bruneau R along hwy 51)

– Lincoln’s
– Savannah
– Swamp (@ Jack’s Creek)

– White-throated (@ Jack’s Creek)

– 4 Lesser Goldfinch
– 6 Mountain Bluebirds

We did have a few somewhat surprising “misses” on the day, including:
– several waterfowl, including Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, & Redhead
– Black-capped Chickadee – can sometimes be found in trees in town of Bruneau … or any other patches of deciduous trees, just usually not in pure Russian Olive stands

– Townsend’s Solitaire – especially in junipers
– Northern Shrike
– Orange-crowned Warbler

This Christmas count usually doesn’t get much “count week” action since most/all participants don’t live there but I figure there might be some birders that visited Wed-Fri of this last week (26th-28th) and/or might visit in the 3 days after the count (today through Tues, Jan 1).  If anyone does visit (or has already visited) within the bounds of the count circle b/t Dec 26 & Jan 1 and sees any of these species, please let me know.
Thanks & happy new year!
Jay

Birders, check out some of these high counts, Lawrence’s Goldfinch in particular! =)

Just for fun,

Larry

From: aznmbirds-request@list.arizona.edu [mailto:aznmbirds-request@list.arizona.edu] On Behalf Of Bill Lisowsky
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2018 4:56 PM
To: aznmbirds@list.arizona.edu
Subject: [AZNMbirds] Nogales, AZ CBC Results

Pending final reviews, 54 keen and energetic observers found 151 species on the Nogales, AZ Christmas Bird Count this year. As you would expect, there were some exciting finds and easy misses. Wild Turkey and Townsend’s Warbler were new to the count. We couldn’t find either Inca or Common Ground Doves on Count Day, but we did have Common Loon, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Grosbeak and Ferruginous Hawk among the 11,150 birds we counted. We set new high counts for a number of species, including Black-capped Gnatcatcher (6), Lawrence’s Goldfinches (495), Yellow-headed Blackbird (607) and Lazuli Bunting (11).

Al Schmierer and I were new co-compilers this year and we learned a lot. We heartily thank all the folks who helped with the count this year, and we hope to recruit a few more folks to help us cover the circle even better next year.

Bill Lisowsky

Tubac, AZ

Lake Lowell today, 4pm, 2 Great egrets and many other regulars, I will post more on eBird, Cheers Rich Rusnak,Nampa

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 28, 2018, at 3:33 PM, Robert Kiernan photobirder@gmail.com [ible] wrote:
>
> Circa 2 PM large flock snow geese lower dam
>

Circa 2 PM large flock snow geese lower dam

Date – Saturday, December 29
Time – 7 AM

Because of the federal government shutdown CBC participants won’t be able to meet at the BLM office as usual.

We are meeting at the TA Travel Center that is located on Broadway. The address is 4115 Broadway. (This is around the corner from the BLM office)

Once area teams are finalized and people are set up in carpools, any extra cars can be left in the BLM parking lot, 3948 Development.

After the count there is the annual spaghetti dinner/countdown at the YBar in Grand View. Cheryl will need to know who plans to attend the dinner.

Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho