Missy and I birded SE Arizona during most of January, roosting in Green
Valley just S of Tucson. Mostly, we were just trying to keep up with Jon
Curd, who was setting the eBird pace in Arizona until he departed for Idaho!
We entered 96 checklists into eBird, found 211 species, 16 life birds for
Missy and 9 state birds for me. Our favorite birding places included Madera
Canyon, Patagonia Lake SP, Pena Blanca Lake and Springs, Portal area,
Gilbert Water Ranch, Sweetwater Wetlands, and Whitewater Draw. On route
to/from S AZ or S CA we usually stop at Henderson NV Bird Viewing Preserve,
another favorite of ours. If anyone desires more information about any of
this, please let me know off line. This was my 18th birding trip to AZ and
Missy’s 6th. Speaking of Missy, in December she got 25 life birds in Cuba
on a non-birding trip with our daughter.
Last Thursday (22 Feb 2018), we birded the Hagerman area and entered 7 eBird
lists, made 30+ stops at places that looked/felt/smelt birdie, tallied 64
sp, 22 of which were Idaho year birds for us. NOT on our forward-looking
radar was a Tree Swallow at Riley Pond… interesting to think that last
year we found a Tree Swallow just below Upper Salmon Power Plant A on 12 Jan
2017. IMHO, Hagerman Valley offers very good all-around winter birding,
with a great mix of species, and always a surprise or two.
Recently published research on the effects of a common neonicotinoid
pesticide (imidacloprid) (09 Nov 2017 in Scientific Reports, also reported
at the 15 Nov 2017 annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology
and Chemistry) suggested that eating seeds coated with this stuff caused
White-crowned Sparrows to lose weight and lose their sense of direction,
which could alter the birds’ progress of migration. These affects appeared
to be temporary, lasting two weeks or so.
Speaking of migration, bring it on! =)
Larry, Boise
