No sign of either bird this morning, but I didn’t hang out as long as yesterday, so if you’re more patient (less sleepy) than I am your luck may differ. Good luck to whoever
heads this way today!
Stoddard Davenport
Boise
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
——– Original message ——–
From: “Stoddard Davenport s_g_davenport@hotmail.com [ible]”
Date: 6/17/17 4:49 AM (GMT-07:00)
To: Jay Carlisle , IBLE To Post
Subject: RE: [IBLE] BT Pigeon & YB Cuckoo S of Magic Reservoir
You guys are awesome, thanks for getting out there and documenting so many cool birds every year!
I spent the last 2.5 hours of daylight listening for YBCU along the road wherever there were decent pullouts. There was a light drizzle when I arrived that let up soon thereafter, and came back for a little while an hour later. Most of the time it was a little breezy and overcast, but not raining. BNA says the kowlp call is the one heard most often, but it’s rarely given more than once in ten minutes, so if I hadn’t seen your report earlier in the day I wouldn’t have had the patience to wait for one to call within ear shot.
Two times out of 2.5 hours I thought I heard a ka-ka-ka-kowlp call, and one of those was really convincing. It was somewhat distant relative to where I was parked but the trees it sounded like it was calling from were close to the road, so I drove closer to where I thought I’d heard it. I didn’t have a visual yet but when I got out of the car I saw a bird of approximately the right size and shape flush out of the back side of a cottonwood, and fly across the river, disappearing into the understory somewhere around here: 43.2056,-114.346.
In flight I mostly saw the back but did see flashes of white on the underside. The back showed fairly uniform brown except for the rufous in the wings. The wings seemed slender and came to a point. Tail was long and slender but ended bluntly. Not the most satisfying encounter, so will be trying again at first light. Hopefully the higher calling frequency in the morning will make this a tiny but easier.
I also thought I might have heard the Band-tailed Pigeon’s guttural/grunting call, but according to BNA that call is mostly given in response to close proximity to other pigeons (feeding closely together, perched close on a branch, unwanted mating attempts, etc.) which seemed like an unlikely scenario away from normal range/habitat. I’ll just assume I heard some kind of weird nestling/begging sound and not a pigeon, and will try again in the morning.
Next, because I was traveling alone on this trip (usually have Ellen and the kids with me) and wasn’t sleepy yet I headed over to Silver Creek Preserve and found both Long-eared and Short-eared Owls out and about.
Still not sleepy, (and trying to make the most of not having to factor kids into the logistics,) I headed up to the woods behind Lake Alturus where I’d heard of a Barred Owl that was reported to have been calling one night sometime in the past few summers. With limited internet access while on the road I wasn’t able to re-find that report to confirm the details. I parked at the end of the dirt road that goes past Lake Alturus where it terminates in a parking area / trailhead. I spent an hour listening and didn’t hear a Barred but did hear a couple of Northern Saw-whets and a Great Gray.
I’m looking forward to seeing if there are going to be any early risers out here in the morning looking for the cuckoo or pigeon. I’ll be here probably until 7 or 8.
Good birding!
Stoddard Davenport
Boise
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
——– Original message ——–
From: “Jay Carlisle carlislejay@yahoo.com [ible]”
Date: 6/16/17 4:14 PM (GMT-07:00)
To: IBLE To Post
Subject: Re: [IBLE] BT Pigeon & YB Cuckoo S of Magic Reservoir
I neglected to mention that the area we surveyed is a parcel of BLM land but there is private mixed in. Thus, unless you have a property layer on your GPS (like the “Hunt & Fish” chips), likely best to view/listen from the road – and both the pigeon and cuckoo were observable from the road (though the cuckoo was much more secretive and we only knew it was there from the call). There is a good amount of traffic, especially by 7am, but there are places to safely pull over.
Jay
On Friday, June 16, 2017 12:05 PM, “Jay Carlisle carlislejay@yahoo.com [ible]” wrote:
[Attachment(s) from Jay Carlisle included below]
This morning we (Intermountain Bird Observatory, with Austin of Idaho Fish & Game joining us) performed our first standardized Yellow-billed Cuckoo surveys of the summer. Happily, we had a cuckoo respond on our 5th survey point!! Then, as a bonus, Austin found & photographed a Band-tailed Pigeon in a cottonwood along W Magic Rd.
Here are pictures (from Austin’s camera screen 🙂
We already submitted an eBird list as we wanted to get the word out soon but are just now finishing our morning of surveys & have time to provide details.
As a reminder, since the western distinct population segment of Yellow-billed Cuckoo was listed as threatened a couple years ago, a US Fish & Wildlife Service permit is required for any use of playback for this species (which we possess for these surveys). Thus, people are welcome to look for the cuckoo but not use playback. The pigeon was seen from the road at ~43.2023 -114.3413.
Thanks,
Jay
Sent from my iPhone
