I got distracted and didn’t finish my thought. There are a few
around east Idaho.
On 1/27/25 04:42PM, Cliff Weisse wrote:
FWIW, we saw one Rough-legged and one Ferruginous Hawk on the
Rexburg bench in Madison County today so there are at least a
few around.
Cliff
On 1/27/25 01:14PM, lcarrigan_55 via
groups.io wrote:
Thanks for info from both of you, Bill & Tim! Wow,
wonder what’s kept the Rough-leggeds not that far away, just
to the NE? Good food supply I suppose. Interesting. Will be
watching for Rosy Finches, too! Had an irruption one year of
literally, thousands! Would go thru a 50 lb bag of sunflower
seeds in 3-4 days. That was 40 yrs ago though.
FWIW, we saw one Rough-legged and one Ferruginous Hawk on the
Rexburg bench in Madison County today so there are at least a few
around.
Cliff
On 1/27/25 01:14PM, lcarrigan_55 via
groups.io wrote:
Thanks for info from both of you, Bill & Tim! Wow, wonder
what’s kept the Rough-leggeds not that far away, just to the NE?
Good food supply I suppose. Interesting. Will be watching for
Rosy Finches, too! Had an irruption one year of literally,
thousands! Would go thru a 50 lb bag of sunflower seeds in 3-4
days. That was 40 yrs ago though.
Thanks for info from both of you, Bill & Tim! Wow, wonder what’s kept the Rough-leggeds not that far away, just to the NE? Good food supply I suppose. Interesting. Will be watching for Rosy Finches, too! Had an irruption one year of literally, thousands! Would go thru a 50 lb bag of sunflower seeds in 3-4 days. That was 40 yrs ago though.
Just had rosy finches show up at sunflower feeder. Maybe you’ll finally get your winter finches Brian. My recollection is in past they show up in the depth of winter. Below zero here for most of last week. Heard from one person from Blackfoot who helped with F&G eagle count and they were mostly skunked.
Seem late in their winter arrival to me, but finally saw 2 Rough-legged Hawks today, fly over our place. And, have been looking during recent outings across Arco Desert & up to Challis & also snowshoeing in Wilderness Area. Never saw any Rough-leggeds during outings over several crossings from end of Dec, up until this past Fri. Very unusual, esp with an abundance of deer mice & meadow voles about, again this winter, as last year.
Saw a Ferruginous Hawk from our place last weekend & one yesterday. Numerous Red-tailed Hawks about in all diff’t color phases from jet black to near completely white. Bald Eagles abound with both adults & juveniles around, along the river. Saw 5 today in as many minutes.
Interestingly, near absent this winter are Townsend’s Solitaires, despite an abundance of juniper berries. Have only seen a couple & very sparingly. And, my hope for winter finches is rapidly fading, even though there are excellent cone crops at home & up in the high country I’ve recently visited. A surprise was a grouping of ~15 W Meadowlarks along the edge of the road near the Salmon River on outskirts of Challis last Monday.
Steller’s Jay is one of my favorite northern forest birds. As you say, they are vocal and can be quite entertaining to watch. They were frequent visitors to feeders at my Alaska home surrounded by forest acreage.
I’ve a Steller’s Jay since mid December. It usually comes to my suet feeders.
Kit Struthers
Idaho Falls
On Fri, 17 Jan, 2025 at 9:37 PM, lcarrigan_55 via groups.io <carriganbw@…> wrote:
To: ible@groups.io
Well, so far, my best winter bird has been Steller’s Jay. It doesn’t visit my feeder. Based on some other’s posts, I’ve even tried peanuts & the other birds just seem to scatter them for the fox squirrels to gather. But, does like a windrow of Rocky Mtn Junipers I planted years ago. Maybe going after juniper berries??? It’s quite vocal, when present & one has been here since Nov. Today, kept me entertained while I shoveled snow from decks & drives.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
