Category Archives: Listserv Posts

Listserv Posts

Cold, wet ride

Since I was scheduled to get my 2d vaccine at the VA today, I had to do an early ride or not go at all (which is not a choice). So I headed out relatively early for me, but after the stuff falling out of the sky stopped being white and thick. By the time I had gone 5 blocks, I already had 10 birds. Then at Esther Simplot I found C. Goldeneye and a pair of N. Shovelers, and I started to get my hopes up—although by this time it was pretty wet, and I was getting cold.

The birds kept falling into place as I proceeded down river. Just past Willow Lane, I found #31, a Cooper’s Hawk. Right after that I found a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneye and heard a RB Nuthatch, and the rain intensified. At Les Bois track, I was able to peek through the fence to see a male Bufflehead and a couple of male GW Teal. And the birds kept coming–as did the rain. Number 40 was a huge GB Heron standing in the middle of the river, and 41 was a RT Hawk.

When I got back to Willow Lane, I decided I should try the restrooms to see if I could warm my hands. No luck on that, but just then an Osprey flew over, circled a few times and landed on a light tower with nesting material in his talons. My day was made, but I didn’t get to warm my hands until Esther Simplot.

Final tally was 43 species in about 11 miles. A wonderful, but wet, day.

Tom McCabe, Boise

Listserv Posts

Raptors at Tubac 3/18/2021

Brian Carrigan’s posting inspired me to share my recent observations with you. I’m in Tucson, AZ currently and enjoying different opportunities here. Hawk watch is on during the month of March, usually peaking around the 15th. I was at the official hawk watch location on 3/12 and again 3/18. Following is my narrative of 3/18/2021.

———- Forwarded message —–
From: Diann Stone <dstoneak2id@…>
Date: Sat, Mar 20, 2021, 3:26 PM
Subject: Raptors at Tubac 3/18/2021
There are no photos with my posting, but if there were, you would see a Zone-tailed Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Gray Hawk, and in one frame both a very light and a very dark Red-tailed Hawk. The images are embedded in my brain. Thursday was the best ever Tubac Hawk Watch Day. So many birds!  There were too many for me to keep a tally. Common Black Hawks were overhead all morning, mostly in small groups. We would watch them approach, soar overhead, then continue across the sky heading northward. What a thrill! We birders often complain about “warbler neck” from looking high into the trees. “Raptor neck” is almost as bad, but a malady I accept for the grand rewards it brings.
On the drive to Tubac:
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove/Pigeon
Gila Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
At Ron Morriss County Park:
Zone-Tailed Hawk
Common Black Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Gray Hawk
American Kestrel
 Sharp-shinned Hawk
Common Raven
 Anna’s Hummingbird, 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Vermillion Flycatcher
On to Tumacacori to eat picnic lunch and walk part of the De Anza Trail.
Rufous-winged Sparrow
Verdin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Hutton’s Vireo
Black Phoebe
Turkey Vulture (4)
Red-tailed Hawk
White-crowned Sparrow
Gray Hawk (heard in Cottonwoods)
Hermit Thrush
Northern Cardinal
Curve-billed Thrasher
Western Kingbird
So there you have it. A happy amateur’s bird list for one wonderful day!  
If you want an excellent book to practice your raptor identification skills, I recommend The Crossley ID Guide, Raptors . 101 color plates, species descriptions, maps, comparison photos and self-testing photos galore. 
Diann Stone (Boise)

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir

Listserv Posts

Spring Birds

Past few days have had some good flyovers. Fri – yesterday: Numerous flights of Tundra Swans, even well after dark. Most, was a group of about 300. Smaller flights of Sandhill Cranes. And today, Snow Geese are coming over, flights of 60 or so birds. One of most exciting, today, was a flock of 10 Evening Grosbeaks calling as they did a backyard flyover. 

Brian Carrigan

Blackfoot
Listserv Posts

Re: Harris’ Sparrow

Cool you got your Harris’s Jon and wonderful that you got to have such a great guide 🙂

On Mar 20, 2021, at 5:39 PM, Ceredig Roberts via groups.io <ceredigroberts@…> wrote:


It was great to meet Jon and get to photograph the Harris’s Sparrow.  Thanks for publishing this story of how it was found today. 

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On Mar 20, 2021, at 5:16 PM, Elizabeth Medes <liz.medes@…> wrote:



What a wonderful story and so glad you got your bird!

Liz Medes
Emmett

Ken Miracle
chukar28@…
208-570-2780
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” 2COR 3:5