Around noon today, as we crossed the bridge from Plantation Island to the stables area, I heard the distinct sound of a Blue Jay. I froze and listened, and the call went on and on. No question, no doubt. I rode down the dead end asphalt path, which is about 1/8th of a mile long, and I would say the bird was about halfway down. Unfortunately, I never actually saw the bird. 🙁
This is the same general area where I heard the bird yesterday, but the bird went on much longer today.
If you watch any television at all, you end up seeing scenes from the eastern half of the country, and I always listen for the bird sounds in the background. Lately, I’ve been hearing Blue Jays a lot. Way cool.
So the other morning while lying in bed, I thought I heard a Blue Jay in the vicinity of my house in the North End of Boise. After much soul searching, I decided I must have been dreaming and the dream seemed real. (As with all identifications by sound, I want the first call to alert me to the presence and the second to confirm the ID).
Then today, at six miles into my bike ride (so probably not asleep and dreaming), and stopped on Remington St., I heard a Blue jay. My head snapped around and then –yes!—I heard it again. Unfortunately, I stood there a long time and never heard it again, and I got as close to where I thought the sound emanated, but still nothing.
So if you are in the vicinity of Plantation Island, keep your ears tuned. It sounded like the bird was either on the island or in the vicinity of the discontinuous part of the Garden City greenbelt.
Tom McCabe, Boise
PS—a few years ago the island played host to a Steller’s Jay for much of the winter, and that same year there was a Blue Jay hanging out in the North End with a Steller’s Jay. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
A male Rufus dropped by at 3:45PM this afternoon for a really long drink on my feeder. The last hummer I saw was the evening of Sept. 15th. This guy must be trying to beat the bad weather coming this weekend. Always happy to see a straggler get a meal.
The white crowned are thick on the ground this week, particularly around the canals and in Montour. Juncos coming in a few at a time. Noticed this summer when we saw the WCs up at 7800 ft in northern Gem County how different their song was; not so much notes as intensity, but it was breeding season and no doubt worth the effort.
*********************** Tempe Regan (she/her) Regional Wildlife Diversity Biologist Idaho Department of Fish and Game 99 US-93 Salmon, ID 83467 Office: 208.756.2271 Mobile: 406.396.4856
I’ve seen a few reports of Blue Jay already this fall so I wasn’t too surprised to hear one calling near St. Anthony today. It was in a yard along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and it called repeatedly for fifteen minutes or so. Maybe this will be a good winter for Blue Jays???
Cliff
— Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho @cliffweisse
These last few weeks I’ve spent considerable time in the canyons southwest of Challis,,,, Spar canyon, Road creek, and Herd creek. In every one of them I saw lots and lots of White-Crowns. Way more than I’ve usually seen in the hills before. I just figured that they were this years batch flocking up before they went south, but maybe there is more to it than just that. Less Mountain Bluebirds, also. Still plenty of them, but smaller groups, it seems.
Just an interesting observation on a common species. Over the last couple of weeks I have had a huge buildup of White-crowned Sparrows in my yard. (Boise Highlands Area, Ada County). The vast majority are first year birds. I have seen at one time 15 on the ground under my feeders. There are 2 to 3 adults that show up from time to time. Also interesting is I am hearing quite a lot of singing going on. I am not sure I remember this from past years — but I don’t keep records on that sort of thing. Pieplow’s book says males sing all year round. The vocalizations don’t sound like clear adult songs but maybe the first year birds learning and trying out their songs. More like the subsong on the Peterson web site that goes with Pieplow’s book. I am going to dust off my recording gear and capture some snippets. Will post on eBird.
Thanks, Brian. When I magnify it all the way up, on some I can see what looks like a dark spot on the tip of the bill. There have been ring-billed gulls there this summer.
Liz
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