If anyone plans to be in the Phoenix or Tucson area for birding, I recommend the Gilbert Water Ranch Riparian Preserve on Guadalupe Rd.
On Friday, Jan. 24, I birded there with a group of friends. Most of the ponds were filled with water and with birds. We saw 54 species from about 9am to 1pm. We were busy turning heads and alerting each other to the next bird. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Snowy Egret, Sora, Black-crowned Night Herons, and several shorebird species were of particular interest to me. Do yourself a favor and go birding in Gilbert, AZ.
Still have one Mt Chickadee coming into feeder, at least one Blue Jay is still present & Pine Siskins have shown at the thistle feeder. They’re feeding alongside the Am Goldfinches.
Others: House Finches, Spotted Towhees, DE Juncos & a RB Nuthatch. The Bald Eagle pr has been sitting on their nest across the river from us for yr #10 now. An adult N Goshawk was perched back of our place by river last weekend but haven’t seen since. A Harlan’s RT Hawk is a regular visitor to a front pasture cottonwood & a Sharp-shinned Hawk makes the feeders go silent at least once a day. Now, both GH & W Screech Owls are calling at night.
Let’s face it, we all keep lists. In fact, IBLE is itself a list for people who keep lists. We keep day lists, location lists, year lists, etc. (I confess, I even keep lists of miles biked, by the day, week, month, and year.)
Anyway, my list for my little portion of the Boise Greenbelt includes just 56 birds since January 1, 2020. Not that big a deal, but the big deal for me is that today, 1-23-20, I saw 46 of those birds. And I missed some easy ones (A. Goldfinch) but found some hard ones (Canvasback, Pacific Wren, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, GH Owl). I report this just because it amazed me (and challenged my short term memory since I don’t write them down until I get home).
So despite it allegedly being winter and with migration nowhere in sight, there are lots of birds out there for you to put on your year list—or any other list you want to keep. 😉
The Lesser Black-backed Gull was still on the Snake River in American Falls today. Teresa Meachum and I first saw it from the northern part of the cemetery. Then we could see it closer and better from the boat ramp just upstream from the cemetery. First it was sitting on a rock in the river with several Ring-billed Gulls. Then a fishing boat flushed it, and we watched it fly around for several minutes. Finally it landed again with the other smaller gulls. It definitely had a darker back than any of the others, yellow legs, and yellow bill with red dot near the tip.
Don’t know if my notice about seeing the Barred Owl at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Grounds at 10:00 A.M. this morning made it through, because I did it by “forwarding” another person’s post.
Had some great looks, and I’ve attached a picture.
The long tailed duck is best observed with a scope on S side of Snake River by walking across the Guffey Bridge, look towards the Island to find it with goldeneyes. It dives frequently surfacing fairly close to its dive spot, occasionally it will fly up river to the head/point of the island, whereupon it lets the currents carry it back down river to the goldeneyes, feeding along the way. Photo 1/19/20,Image, by Marty Marzinelli
Hooray for the birds! Sometimes they show up just when we need them.
Last week, on one marvelous day, I had great looks at a Virginia Rail and a Sora side by side at the same time! What a thrill! To top that, later in the day a Northern Parula hung around near a sap well gaining nourishment and providing birders with fantastic looks and photo ops. Obviously, not in Boise.
While I don’t have Mountain Chickadees or Townsend’s Solitaires (I wish I did), I did get some new arrivals when first one, and then five, Pine Siskins showed up at my feeders. They were accompanied by several Lesser Goldfinches, which have been missing for a couple of weeks. And today they were accompanied by an American Goldfinch, another bird that has been in short supply. And my thistle feeder, which hasn’t needed a refill in weeks, is suddenly being depleted. (I was beginning to think it was something I said).
Thanks to the recent arrivals, and lots of ducks, including Canvasbacks at Les Bois track’s infield pond, my tally for today was 42 birds in just under 11 miles. Plus, we’ve started to hear W. Screech Owls on our evening walks, so the number could still rise. (I hope so).
Tom McCabe, Boise
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