Category Archives: Listserv Posts

Listserv Posts

Re: Winter raptor surveys

Hi Louisa,

Thanks very much for claiming the LLS route, I know you are going to enjoy this :).  Not to worry about which month you will start, if you get to the point where you know you wont do November just drop me a quick note :).  In addition to what I sent you earlier, I am including:
1.  My January 2025 monthly summary chart which shows what was seen and where that month.  I prepare one of these at the end of each month and then send it to everyone.

Ps – to view the file, click the icon then click on the “sheet 1 – table 1 – table 1Longf” tab that appears on the page that comes up
2. Our project map showing all 614 active routes last winter, the red ones were new to the project last winter.

After you have reviewed everything, let me know if you have ANY questions, be glad to help :).  Looking forward to working with you this winter and seeing what will be using your route, good luck and enjoy your outings 🙂
Jeff

Listserv Posts

Snow Geese Migration

This morning at 12:30AM my BirdNet-Pi system captured the calls from a flock of Snow Geese flying over my house in Boise’s North End. The recordings covered a period of just under a minute. No idea how big the flock was.  I did listened to the recordings and that is what they were. BirdNet-Pi has been known to make false positives — it turns my neighbor’s heat pump into a Saw-whet Owl. So, I have learned to check the more interesting decodes like these. This is a first “sighting” of Snow Geese here at the house. I can’t post on eBird as it does not fit their protocol. But thought a short mention here would be interesting.
 
Scott
Listserv Posts

Re: Winter raptor surveys

Hi Louisa,

Thanks for expressing interest in the LLS route :).  I am sending you a copy of the data collection form, the data history chart, and a link to our ongoing mapping effort.  When you click on the link, click on the map and then zoom in to where you can see the route path :).  It’s a pretty good sized route that would take most of a day to complete, maybe Cheryl could help you with it :).  Let me know one way or the other if this looks good for you to take on, if you dont take it I would hope someone else expressed interest.  And if you do take it, please let me know if you will start in November or December, thanks Louisa 🙂
Jeff

Ps – to view a file  open on then click on the sheet 1 tab that appears on the page that comes up

Listserv Posts

Winter raptor surveys

Hi Everyone,

Over the years, I have advertised vacant winter raptor survey routes in Idaho on IBLE.  In two weeks we are about to embark on our 22nd season of surveys for the Winter Raptor Survey Project sponsored by the East Cascades Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon Society).  Surveys will be conducted on 629+ survey routes covering more than 35,000 miles of transects throughout all of ID, OR, and WA, throughout the northern tier of CA and UT, throughout western MT, and in southern BC Canada.  More than 500 primary volunteers will do once a month surveys from December through February, with additional options to survey in November and March.

I would like you to know that the following survey routes, with their mileage lengths, are still available for volunteers to be assigned to this winter :

Lake Lowell South                    85
Emmett South                           66
Emmett – Horseshoe Bend.      84
Weiser West                             32
Craigmont – Mohler.                  60
Nez Perce                                 71                                                   Churchill – Oakley                     68
Richfield                                   44
Heyburn                                   41

Minidoka NW                           85
Rupert North                            69
Burley East – Lake Walcott      67
Burley SW                               51
American Falls – Rockland.     75
Arimo – Virginia                        56
Ashton                                     76
Dubois                                     51

The fact that we have 153 routes throughout Idaho and that we only need these 17 routes to fill the entire state for this project says volumes regarding the dedication that Idaho volunteers in this project put forth 🙂

To participate, I ask that our volunteers commit to doing one survey per month during the primary survey period from December through February.  Volunteers can select survey dates each month to dovetail with their own life schedules.  November and March are also available for surveying but these are optional months as they do contain migrational activity and this is a wintering project.  You should have at least a pair of binoculars to help you find and ID the birds, spotting scopes are encouraged but not mandatory and you should be comfortable with IDing the common raptor species in these areas.

If this sounds like something that you would like to do, I encourage you to email me soon so that you can hopefully cover the route(s) of your choice, I will necessarily fill these on a first come first served basis.  If you make that decision, I will provide additional information and instruction to get you properly prepared for what you will be doing on these surveys.  This is a fun way to enjoy winter birding while at the same time collecting valuable population data for this wonderful family of birds, I hope that you will join us this winter! :).  Thank you,

Jeff Fleischer
Project Developer / Manager
Winter Raptor Survey Project
East Cascades Bird Alliance – Bend, OR   (project sponsor)