Apart from some volunteering on a local Curlew project and brief runs to the store, I’ve stayed home during these COVID-19 times … lots of yard work and a real appreciation for yard birds. I really miss the social part of birding; sharing the enthusiasm and passion for birds so I thought I would share my morning yard birds in the Boise foothills.
…. Cold start but house finches and gold finches are super busy and the constant, repetitive song of robins are everywhere; their squabbles too as they fight and chase each other and scream. A House Wren pokes its head out of a current thicket … welcome back! The Say’s Phoebe is singing … same every morning without fail since I returned home three weeks ago. “Sip”. Nice, a Chipping Sparrow, the first of four that passes through the yard in the next hour. A stunning male Audubon’s Warbler flycatching from a cottonwood … it’s bright yellow skullcap makes me think back to very different Warblers in Israel only three weeks ago…. A brief trill and an Orange crowned warbler moves into the next tree. With the sun comes the Ruby- crowned kinglets and that crazy downward haphazard spiralling song .. and the raptors. Above the lazy group of turkey vultures are smaller red tails, thernalling more tightly .. and above them a tiny male sharpie. A male harrier is doing a loop-d-loop display, maybe trying to grab the attention of two birds migrating over so high they are just tiny specks. Up in the blue are mixed flocks of swallows … and now most have moved on again and we are left with a few locals around the cliffs.
Almost 50 species or so, some seedlings transplanted, and some firewood cut. Happy yard birding.
We decided to go check things out we havent been out there since nov.started out Reynolds area drove past cemetary and got this pheasant in road pulled off and walked road about 1/2 mile no birds drove dirt road over to murphy stopping wet areas for birds only red w.b b’s on to silver city rd.hoping for sparrow or cassins finches nest sites nada on to sinker creek check both sides rd.nada walkedup rd.about 3/4 mi.nada spent about 2 hrs in creek area saw only beautiful blue skies awesome any day in the owyhee’s better then home in these trying times refreshing
9:30 this A.M.wietz rd on the way this swainson hawk ? Ducks on pond ruddies buffle hds n. Shovler ring necks L.scaup on island or nearby avocets black neck stilts 2 pelicans
Dear fellow birdwatchers, Corona has changed our lives and we want to study its influence on birdwatching activities in different countries. Please help us and answer a few simple questions. The questionnaire is in seven different languages and takes 2 (two) minutes. The study is run by Piotr Tryjanowski (University of Poznan) and Christoph Randler (University of Tuebingen).
It is a scientific study, and you can check my profiles on the website of the University of Tübingen/MNF, researchgate, eBird, facebook (BioDidaktik Tübingen), etc.; I am a birder myself, working at the intersection of biology & social sciences, so thank you all for helping us getting a clearer picture how corona impacts on social/psychological aspects of a leisure activity. Please take care and stay healthy, Christoph
