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[IBLE] Northern Panhandle Birding: 28-29 April 2018

I birded mostly in Bonner and Boundary Counties this weekend beginning on
Lake Pend Oreille, where the first sign of migration was maybe 10,000
swallows (I conservatively eBird 5000) skimming over the water and
dominated by Violet-Green, Tree, and Northern Rough-winged, with smaller
numbers of Cliff and Barn but zero Banks (Vaux’s Swifts are also arriving
in small numbers). Arriving Nashville and Orange-crowned Warblers were
present in suitable habitat at most stops, but there wasn’t much water bird
migration to speak of. A walk around Hope produced 5 species of warblers
including Nashville, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, Townsend’s (several),
and MacGillivray’s (one) plus my first-of-year Rufous Hummingbird and
Cassin’s Vireo. A flock of over 60 SNOW GEESE, 5 ROSS’S GEESE, and my
first Chipping Sparrows were near Selle, north of Kootenai. In the late
afternoon and evening, I birded the Kootenai River Valley from Bonners
Ferry to the international border. Kootenai NWR produced my Boundary
County fist VESPER SPARROW (photos:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45044816). The major swallow movement
continued, but here, Northern Rough-winged was the dominant species.

Sunday morning I spent 3 hours at Boundary Creek WMA, where a minor fallout
of mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers and Tree Swallows was underway. There
were on the order of 80-100 Yellow-rumps lining the creek including 4-6
MYRTLE “YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and a few other common migrants (warblers,
sparrows, Cassin’s Vireo, and my first Hammond’s Flycatcher). A female
MERLIN had a snack on a nearby snag. A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW was at
Kootenai NWR, later in the morning. Birding along the Pend Oreille River
in the afternoon was very quiet, but a nice drake RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
was in the river at the Riley Creek Recreation Area.

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID

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[IBLE] More arrivals

Thanks to Larry Arnold prepping me for a Yellow Warbler, I was able to find
one at the upstream end of Veterans Pond. Then, while looking for the
Western Grebe on Quinn’s Pond, which I found, I heard and then saw a trio of
Cassin’s Finches, at the upstream end of the pond. Larry had also found
these down at his end of the greenbelt.

I also found 2 pairs of Cinnamon Teal on Silver Lake. They weren’t new for
me for this year, but they sure were pretty.

Tom McCabe, Boise

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RE: [IBLE] Western Grebe at Quinn’s, plus…….

FOY birds for us today near SW 6.4 of the Boise Greenbelt included
Black-chinned Hummingbird and Black-headed Grosbeak, our earliest date for
both species hereabouts..

A few Cassin’s Finches also showed up for the concert

Weather rocks! Migration rocks! Birds rock! =)

Larry

From: ible@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ible@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ‘Tom
McCabe’ tmccabe9@cableone.net [ible]
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2018 5:31 PM
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] Western Grebe at Quinn’s

For those of you in the Boise area who have not seen a Western Grebe yet
this year, there was one hanging out at Quinn’s Pond today. I had hoped that
the flow of weather from the south would bring more migrants, but this is
the only one I could find today. Hopefully the WEGR will hang around for a
while.

Tom McCabe, Boise

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[IBLE] Finches

Today was mainly one of finches. American Goldfinches in numbers approaching 50 are really hitting the black-oil sunflower seeds. Then, the appearance this AM of the Evening Grosbeaks, males & females. House Finches are always present. But, the other surprise was a male & female Cassin’s Finch pair. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been a no-show today.

Also, saw a first of season Red-naped Sapsucker. After reaching a high of 79° today, a front pushing through now has cooled temps back down to 66°. Will see what tomorrow brings!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

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[IBLE] Evening Grosbeaks

This AM, Evening Grosbeaks are at the feeders. The males are really striking in their bright spring colors: lemon yellow eyebrows & big white wing patches. White-crowned Sparrows are feeding on spilled seed (not sure why Magpies feel they have to scatter seed everywhere!). I haven’t seen the Rose-breasted Grosbeak yet, his visits are sporadic anyway, but hoping the Evenings are just making him wary of coming in.

I have a family group of 10 Cedar Waxwings in my juniper trees. And I found a hatched Robin’s eggshell yesterday. That’s a pair that didn’t wait to get started with spring nesting & egg-laying! Others this week have been: a single House Wren, Kildeer & Mourning Dove.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

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[IBLE] Global Big Day

Is anyone planning to participate in the Global Big Day this year?
Idaho’s participation was pretty low last year, almost certainly
because of the early date of May 13. I participated last year. I
stayed in Bannock County and found 101 species with no owling, plus it
was windy and cold with about 2” of snow during the peak morning hrs.
Also, I counted birds all day. I didn’t just tick species.

I plan to do another all-day Bannock County effort and hope to beat my
results from last year. I know the area much better than last year and
won’t have as much wasted time. But the count is even earlier this
year – May 5! Certainly, I would find more species if I did my Big
Day in early June. But I’d rather my time, energy and petroleum go
toward a bigger effort.

Sent from my iPhone

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