Last night’s plan to eat downtown had an exciting diversion. We had just parked the car and saw a bird hopping down the middle of 9th Street just south of Main St. Cars screeched to a halt and horns blared. A minute later, I saw an immature Peregrine Falcon hopping toward me along the curb. I herded him into the corner of a storefront and threw my jacket over him. He did not struggle at all when I bundled him up and carried him away. We called a few numbers and I texted Heidi Ware who gave me a name at Idaho Fish and Game. The fellow who manages the nest box called us in about an hour and we made arrangements for him to pick the young guy up the next morning. He was the man who banded the fledglings and said they end up rescuing a few every spring. We talked about the trouble getting enough lift in-between the buildings especially when they prematurely exit from the nest. He was no worse for his ordeal and was back in the nest soon. Cool!!

Every day when I start out on my bike ride, I head for the neighborhood
Swainson’s Hawk nest a few blocks away. Sometimes this can be a predictor of
the day’s birding quality. Today it was a big time predictor (or is that
“bigly?”).

Anyway, I didn’t see anybody on the nest but then I heard a Swainson’s above
me. When I looked up, I was confused because there was a Red-tailed Hawk
circling. Then I realized there was a Swainson’s trying to herd the Red-tail
away from the nest. Then it got better when both Swainson’s started herding.
A double treat.

My usual next stop is the neighborhood Cooper’s Hawk nest a few blocks
further on. When I got there, I couldn’t see any activity. Then I saw a
buteo flying nearby (the Red-tail?), and a Cooper’s appeared from the trees
above my head and went after the buteo like a rocket. What a great start to
my bike ride.

At Esther Simplot Park I found an Osprey circling, along with almost all of
the usual suspects. And as I crossed the foot bridge to the south side, an
A. Kestrel did a little dog fight with a RWBB. Twenty-nine birds and I was
only a few miles into my ride. This was great because Kestrels are not all
that common along the river these days.

Along the way to Ann Morrison, I picked up a Great Blue Heron and BB Magpie.
And as I came into the park, the resident Gray Catbird decided to show off
for me. This was followed by a Western Wood Pewee that kept calling to me,
plus a few more swallows and then a surprise Warbling Vireo. Final treat
from the park was a female Common Merganser, a bird I haven’t seen in weeks.

Final tally was 44 birds in a little over 10 miles of biking. Luck and
timing strike again!

Tom McCabe, Boise

I haven’t been back but I’ve seen a handful of reports in my inbox courtesy of eBird’s rare bird alert:

6/5: Dale and Dee Toweill

6/4: Lew Ulrey

5/31: RL Rowland

5/30: Cheryl Huizinga

5/29: Ian/William Hearn

5/29: Jason Talbot

5/29: Heidi Ware

5/28: Jon Curd

Hope this helps.

Stoddard Davenport

Boise

________________________________
From: ible@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Jonathan jrb4jc@hotmail.com [ible]
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 7:35 PM
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] Re: White-winged Dove is back at the Warm Springs Golf Course [Boise]

HI – has anyone seen the White-winged Dove since Stoddard’s post last Wednesday? Thx…Jonathan

________________________________
From: ible@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Stoddard Davenport s_g_davenport@hotmail.com [ible]
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 9:34 AM
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] White-winged Dove is back at the Warm Springs Golf Course [Boise]

Hi IBLErs,

I got an early morning tip from Missy Arnold that a White-winged Dove was present at the Warm Springs Golf Course. Presumably this is the same individual that’s used the area on and off for a couple of years now. I made it over there a little after 8 and could hear it calling from deep within one of the large pine trees between the clubhouse and the greenbelt, but couldn’t get a visual. It kept going silent as I approached, and must have flown out the backside (towards the clubhouse) as I approached from the greenbelt, because I heard it calling again in some trees on the far side of the clubhouse as well. I ran out of time to try to get a visual on it before I had to get back to work, but others may have better luck.

Thanks for the heads up Missy!

Good birding!

Stoddard Davenport

Boise

HI – has anyone seen the White-winged Dove since Stoddard’s post last Wednesday? Thx…Jonathan

________________________________
From: ible@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Stoddard Davenport s_g_davenport@hotmail.com [ible]
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 9:34 AM
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] White-winged Dove is back at the Warm Springs Golf Course [Boise]

Hi IBLErs,

I got an early morning tip from Missy Arnold that a White-winged Dove was present at the Warm Springs Golf Course. Presumably this is the same individual that’s used the area on and off for a couple of years now. I made it over there a little after 8 and could hear it calling from deep within one of the large pine trees between the clubhouse and the greenbelt, but couldn’t get a visual. It kept going silent as I approached, and must have flown out the backside (towards the clubhouse) as I approached from the greenbelt, because I heard it calling again in some trees on the far side of the clubhouse as well. I ran out of time to try to get a visual on it before I had to get back to work, but others may have better luck.

Thanks for the heads up Missy!

Good birding!

Stoddard Davenport

Boise

There is a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher near Camas NWR (Jefferson County). It’s on a dirt road that parallels the main entrance road into Camas (2300 north). To get there drive the main road towards Camas, before you get to the headquarters, turn left onto 2200 east then before you get into the refuge turn left onto 2300N. The bird was about a half mile down the road on the north side of the road sort of near the 2nd house on the left.

Darren Clark
Rexburg

Sent from my iPhone

FWIW, I’ve thought some of the SB Dowitchers we see in Island Park are
of the Prairie/hendersoni ssp because of the limited black markings on
the flanks. I’ve sent photos around to west coast shorebirders and
received no support for hendersoni. Apparently many birds of the west
coast/caurinus ssp look very much like these birds and can be
confidently assigned to that taxon. If memory serves the entirely orange
underparts of hendersoni was a key point of distinction and our birds
all had at least some white below. Not sure about some of the brighter
juveniles we see in fall but that’s what I learned about our spring SBDOs.

Cliff

On 06/10/2017 10:10 AM, ‘Larry Arnold’ larnold47@cableone.net [ible] wrote:
> Wish Sibley would include ssp names, not just ranges, so I could
> cross-examine the bird 😉 because it strikes me most as L. g.
> hendersoni (ssp of SB) per Kaufman, based on the appearance of flanks
> and belly in the first photo below. But is this a stretch, since the
> range of hendersoni is more Prairie than Pacific (where L. g. caurinus
> lurks), even tho Kaufman drops a little hint on pg 69 that hendersoni
> is not impossible hereabouts?

—
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com

While heading to Pennal Gulch this afternoon, I head the loud “coo” call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo coming from a patch of willows on the west side of Hwy 93. I was already on the Pennal Gulch access loop off the highway, so I pulled around and got back on the highway in hopes of finding a place to pull off and check out the trees. No pull-offs plus signage that one is not supposed to park anywhere along the highway kept me from searching the trees, although I did pull to the side for a couple of minutes to scan the dense patch. Unfortunately, cuckoos are good at hiding and I had no luck spotting it. It’s possible, too, that it flew while I was getting turned around.
A Yellow-billed Cuckoo hung out at Pennal Gulch for a couple of weeks back in the latter half of June in 2000. Most migrant sightings reported on eBird have been in June. It would be worth checking this area to see if the cuckoo stops for a while, although access in to Pennal Gulch is somewhat hampered by high water.
Wendy McCradyChallis, ID

Will forgo my ego and vote. 😉

From the photos, Amy’s note to me about flight calls that she heard (favoring SB), considering the many factors discussed by Kaufman in his Advanced Birding (1990), and based on discussions of brightness and extent of the supercilium (not discussed in any of my field guides), discussions I recall having with birders on the Gulf Coast (leading TOS Conference field trips) who had much experience with both sp, my vote is for SB.

Problem areas for me are the neck (stripped of feathers?), flanks (spotting as opposed to barring), and the belly (can’t see well enough to determine extent, if any, of white). Wish Sibley would include ssp names, not just ranges, so I could cross-examine the bird 😉 because it strikes me most as L. g. hendersoni (ssp of SB) per Kaufman, based on the appearance of flanks and belly in the first photo below. But is this a stretch, since the range of hendersoni is more Prairie than Pacific (where L. g. caurinus lurks), even tho Kaufman drops a little hint on pg 69 that hendersoni is not impossible hereabouts?

Anyway, I vote for SB, for what it’s worth. Excellent find, Amy! Great discussion, Amy and Jay! =)

Larry

From: ible@yahoogroups.com [ mailto:ible@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jay Carlisle carlislejay@yahoo.com [ible]
Sent: Friday, June 9, 2017 10:29 PM
To: amysilver819@gmail.com
Cc: ible@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [IBLE] Short-billed (?) Dowitcher still at Blacks Creek (Ada Co) [3 Attachments]

[Attachment(s) from Jay Carlisle included below]

Amy Silver found an oiled-looking dowitcher at Blacks Creek Reservoir (Ada Co) a few days ago and the extent of white in the tail seemed promising for a Short-billed. She saw it again & heard it call yesterday. Early evening today Bryce, Heidi, & I re-located it near the mouth of Blacks Creek as it enters the reservoir on the E end and were able to grab a few pics that seem to support Short-billed: among other features, (1) tail ~50% white, (2) small spots on sides of chest that transition to barring on the flanks, and (3) gold edges on the back feathers. Any input welcome.

Also, lots of other diversity there & RL was out there looking earlier in the afternoon and found a Red-necked Grebe on the deeper water – a great find for this spot and time of year!

Jay

image3.JPG

image2.JPG

image1.JPG

On Jun 6, 2017, at 6:42 PM, amysilver819@gmail.com [ible] wrote:

Hi Everybody. This poor bird was at Blacks Creek Reservoir yesterday. Looks like some sort of dowitcher, but both short and long-billed are considered rare right now (by ebird). He seems thin, but that’s maybe just because he’s unwell?

The bird was pretty messed up, so I gave him plenty of space…

I’ve never really tried to differentiate between the dowitchers, but this one struck me as different (maybe just acting strangely because he was sick?) In most of the photos (not many), his tail is covered by his wings, but in this one, you can really see the white bands. The bill and face seem right, but he’s in bad shape and it’s hard to see color patterns in the sad mess of feathers. Any thoughts before I try to submit the report to ebird? There doesn’t seem to be a “short-billed/long-billed dowitcher” option 🙂

Thanks!

Amy Silver (Boise)

Hello all,
I visited the Island Park Dam around noon yesterday and, eventually, found the bird. It had moved way out on the water away from the dam. I set up my scope at the gravel boat launch adjacent to dam and scanned northward The scoter was alone and diving approx 150 yards out.

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interest skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Amy Silver found an oiled-looking dowitcher at Blacks Creek Reservoir (Ada Co) a few days ago and the extent of white in the tail seemed promising for a Short-billed. She saw it again & heard it call yesterday. Early evening today Bryce, Heidi, & I re-located it near the mouth of Blacks Creek as it enters the reservoir on the E end and were able to grab a few pics that seem to support Short-billed: among other features, (1) tail ~50% white, (2) small spots on sides of chest that transition to barring on the flanks, and (3) gold edges on the back feathers. Any input welcome.

Also, lots of other diversity there & RL was out there looking earlier in the afternoon and found a Red-necked Grebe on the deeper water – a great find for this spot and time of year!

Jay

> On Jun 6, 2017, at 6:42 PM, amysilver819@gmail.com [ible] wrote:
>
> [Attachment(s) from amysilver819@gmail.com [ible] included below]
> Hi Everybody. This poor bird was at Blacks Creek Reservoir yesterday. Looks like some sort of dowitcher, but both short and long-billed are considered rare right now (by ebird). He seems thin, but that’s maybe just because he’s unwell?
>
>
>
> The bird was pretty messed up, so I gave him plenty of space…
>
>
>
> I’ve never really tried to differentiate between the dowitchers, but this one struck me as different (maybe just acting strangely because he was sick?) In most of the photos (not many), his tail is covered by his wings, but in this one, you can really see the white bands. The bill and face seem right, but he’s in bad shape and it’s hard to see color patterns in the sad mess of feathers. Any thoughts before I try to submit the report to ebird? There doesn’t seem to be a “short-billed/long-billed dowitcher” option 🙂
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Amy Silver (Boise)
>
>
>
>
>
>