The past 2 days, I’ve had a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird coming into the feeder. Also, 2 Black-chinneds: one female, one juvenile. Hummingbird feeder excitement continues!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Hello birding friends,

Had a great last day hiking down Balde near Sun Valley with Kathleen! We found her lifer BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER among other things, as well as THREE-TOED WP, a calling FLAMMULATED and multiple NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS in broad daylight, TOWNSEND’S WARBLER, and RED CROSSBILL. All were found either on the Bald Mountain and/or the Warm Springs Trail on Mt. Balde. Email me if you want specific locations for species (Owl locations will not be given bc of birding ethics). What a day! The full list is attached below. Photos will be posted soon on my blog: worldbirding.travellerspoint.com

Have a great year everybody! Hope to be back next August!

Happy birding,
Henry Griffin (Ketchum, Blaine flying back to Chicago tomorrow)

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Red-tailed Hawk
3. FLAMMULATED OWL
4. Northern Pygmy-Owl
5. Belted Kingfisher
6. Hairy Woodpecker
7. AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER
8. BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER
9. Northern Flicker
10. Western Wood-Pewee
11. Hammond’s Flycatcher
12. Dusky Flycatcher
13. Steller’s Jay
14. Clark’s Nutcracker
15. Black-billed Magpie
16. Common Raven
17. Violet-green Swallow
18. Mountain Chickadee
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. Brown Creeper
21. Rock Wren
22. House Wren
23. Golden-crowned Kinglet
24. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
25. Hermit Thrush
26. American Robin
27. Gray Catbird
28. Cedar Waxwing
29. Yellow-rumped Warbler
30. MacGillivray’s Warbler
31. TOWNSEND’S WARBLER
32. Chipping Sparrow
33. Song Sparrow
34. Dark-eyed Junco
35. Lazuli Bunting
36. Red-winged Blackbird
37. Brewer’s Blackbird
38. Bullock’s Oriole
39. Cassin’s Finch
40. RED CROSSBILL
41. Pine Siskin

42. American Goldfinch

There will be a taxonomy update on ebird on Tuesday, August 15th. So birds who have Red Crossbills from South Hills or Type 9 should see Cassia Crossbill on your life list. I suppose this also means that Thayers Gull is going away.

The ebird team is suggesting that on August 16 everyone submit a checklist from an area where you haven’t birded recently. They are updating filters and if you use a recent spot your phone won’t update properly.

For the entire story go to the ebird link at http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/2017-ebird-taxonomy-update-coming-15-august/

Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho

Hello birding friends,

Had a great morning of birding on the Warm Springs Trail up Mt. Balde in the Sun Valley Area! The two most noteworthy birds were a photographed TOWNSEND’S WARBLER, as well as a heard-only BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER. The Woodpecker was identified because I heard it calling its “pik! pik!” call multiple times, and it called in response to playback from iBird Pro – I just never managed to lay eyes on the bird this time. Full list is attached below.

Photos will be posted on my blog soon: worldbirding.travellerspoint.com

Good birding,
Henry Griffin (Ketchum, Blaine County)

Red-tailed Hawk 1
hummingbird sp. 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Black-backed Woodpecker 1 Heard clearly calling “pik! pik!” multiple times, including in response to iBird Pro tape. Has been seen at this location multiple times in the past. In the burned area about two miles up the trail from the base of the mountain.
Pileated Woodpecker 1 Heard only far down the mountain from above
Olive-sided Flycatcher 3
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Hammond’s Flycatcher 4
Dusky Flycatcher 8
Cordilleran Flycatcher 2
Cassin’s Vireo 2
Black-billed Magpie 2
Clark’s Nutcracker 5
Common Raven 1
Violet-green Swallow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Mountain Chickadee 30
Red-breasted Nuthatch 20
Brown Creeper 1
House Wren 8
Mountain Bluebird 1
Townsend’s Solitaire 2
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 12
Cedar Waxwing 7
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Townsend’s Warbler 1 Pics
Chipping Sparrow 15
Dark-eyed Junco 7
Green-tailed Towhee 3
Western Tanager 2
Lazuli Bunting 1
Cassin’s Finch 10
Pine Siskin 25
American Goldfinch 1
passerine sp. 20

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38607823 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38607823

White-faced, not Glossy! Sorry I got mixed up in my earlier post about “Glossy” at “Camas”

Henry Griffin

Hello birding friends,

A few noteworthy sightings in the Warm Springs neighborhood of Ketchum recently have been an AMERICAN DIPPER along Warm Springs Creek recently, as well as NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, & HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER along the Warm Springs Trail on Mt. Balde.

A rafting trip north of Stanley today yielded a few sightings, the best of which was a pair of WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKERS. In Stanley, a CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD was also notable.

Photos will be posted to my birding blog soon: worldbirding.travellerspoint.com

Good birding,

Henry Griffin (Ketchum, Blaine County)

Hello birding friends,

On Monday, Kathleen took me out for about 14 hours to find some new birds for my life list, primarily in eastern Idaho. A big thanks to Kathleen!!

RUDDY DUCK, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, and many SORA were noteworthy at Carey Wildlife Management Area.

We picked up my life bird SAGEBRUSH SPARROW somewhere in the middle of the desert.

A big surprise were eight GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES in the ponds in the town of Roberts. Also had a family of CANVASBACKS here.

Camas National Wildlife Refuge was fruitful with two extremely cooperative AMERICAN BITTERN, a family of TRUMPETER SWANS, GLOSSY IBIS, SNOWY EGRETS, and BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD. Nearby we had a FERRUGINOUS HAWK.

Missed the Blackburnian at Market Lake Wildlife Refuge but did pick up my life bird EARED GREBE.

After a long drive, we ended the day at Silver Creek Preserve near Picabo where we had VIRGINIA RAIL and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, as well as a couple of Moose!

Photos are posted on my birding blog: worldbirding.travellerspoint.com

Good birding,
Henry Griffin (Ketchum, Blaine County)

Greetings, Birders!
On my way home from the Challis Hot Springs this evening, I got to witness the amazing spectacle of seeing at least 500 Common Nighthawks foraging over the agricultural fields along Hot Springs Road. Rather than cause a traffic accident, I pulled off to marvel at the sight and try to capture the numbers with my cellphone camera. It was certainly more fun seeing huge numbers of nighthawks than it will be to deal with the huge numbers of out-of-towners coming in for the Braun Brothers Festival starting tomorrow.
Photos can be seen on the eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38565771
Wendy McCradyChallis, ID

Interesting observations today. This AM was such non-stop action at the hummingbird feeder that I did have to refill it about noon. Feeder activity continued in earnest until smoke from area fires descended into the Snake River Valley. The feeder is down by 1/2 now but activity has noticeably decreased. Also, by noon, the only hummingbirds coming in were Black-chinned and then, only juveniles. In fact, today I believe the only adult hummer I saw was one female Black-chinned. No adult males of any species & all others were juveniles. Some in molt & were difficult to ID.

The other interesting note, is the birds are ravenous. In fact, as evening approaches, I have seen some feeding behaviors I haven’t witnessed all season. I may need to back off, a bit, my war on White Bryone (a miserable, introduced vine growth that can literally cloak an entire tree). White Bryone does get a white flower that produces a fruit poisonous to humans, but I watched Black-chinned Hummingbirds sipping nectar from its abundant flowers. Also, I watched a Black-chinned flying from leaf to leaf at the top of a cottonwood, gleaning insects from the leaf surfaces.

All in all, it’s been an interesting day of hummingbird activity. I do think area fires have made for some concentrated effect into river bottoms, esp at my location, and that fall hummer migration is definitely on. No doubt, there was a flush of Rufous early this AM, with a smattering of Calliope thrown in. And, have the adults already gone? Like many shorebirds, do the juveniles inherit a genetic “map” of migration & do so on their own? And, where are the Broad-taileds? These are the questions that, for me, make birding fascinating.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Totally agree, Larry, about the energy of the Rufous Hummingbird. And its fighting spirit! The Rufous will tackle any interloper to the feeder, bigger or smaller (whether Black-chinned or Calliope). As the day has wore on, there’s less activity at the feeder with most visits now being Black-chinned. Will see as evening approaches which Hummers are still here. I would guess, for a while, there were at least 15 different individuals early AM.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot