I’ve heard this song before…… “We got here too early to bird! The birds aren’t up yet, not active yet, not vocalizing yet!” Oh, but I’ve always felt that there’s no such thing as arriving at a birding destination too early. But maybe this is an open question, eh?

Upon arrival at Foote Park (Ada County) this morning at 0540 hrs, and after explaining to a very curious county sheriff that I’m actually preparing for an early hike, eye-shine on the side of the road led me to my first poorwill of the day. Within minutes another one was calling/singing from the hillside. So, which is it for non-passerines? Can we call it “singing,” or are they “calling?” Is “singing” restricted to the song birds? I’ve wondered about this for years, but have never posed the question, and maybe someone on IBLE can enlighten us. If I beg? 😉

Anyway, soon after the poorwills, chats began cranking up, and they were catalysts for other birds to get cranked. It was glorious! My favorite birds were Warbling Vireo 2, Rock Wren 1, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2, Chipping Sparrow 4, Lark Sparrow 1, Spotted Towhee 4, Yellow-breasted Chat 3, and Wilson’s warbler 1. Many of these were near the water being pumped into the gulch; I found outlet pipes at two locations.

I have this crazy somewhere-out-in-right-field theory about songsters that are still singing… we are now two months after Summer Solstice, with essentially the same photo period as two months prior to the Solstice (late April). Again, something I’ve always wondered about… are birds still driven to sing primarily because of photo period?

Long story short: Birding remains my best fix for anxiety over sitting in the dentist’s chair, which I would be doing right after birding. Eyiyi!!

Larry, Boise

—

Hoping this will be of interest to folks at IBO and possibly a few birders on IBLE?

Western YBCU is a vanishing breed as their habitat gets chewed up.

Their status in Idaho is somewhat “tentative” maybe? And I’m not sure if any of their remaining habitat is protected from development per se……..??

Larry, Boise

From: central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com [mailto:central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ron Melcer corvid88@gmail.com [central_valley_birds]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 8:38 PM
To: Holly
Cc: central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CVBirds] Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yolo County, 20 August 2018

Hi all,

Wonderful find!

Please be sure to submit your field notes and any other documentation (recordings?) to CDFW for a California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) record.. This is super important.

There is a significant amount of planned construction activity and potential for vegetation removal/impacts in the northern portion of the bypass. This has historically (2005/2006) been Cuckoo habitat… and appears to continue to support the species.

The cottonwood willow stands at Fremont, Sacramento Weir, and Cache Creek Settling Basin are of the most significant riparian remnants in the lower Sacramento valley.

Continued documentation of these sensitive species is of utmost importance in the context of near term construction work – and can enable further restoration of these limited resources.

Good birding!

Ron Melcer

Sacramento, CA

On Aug 20, 2018, at 19:45, Holly cranberryjacket@yahoo.com [central_valley_birds] < central_valley_birds-noreply@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

Today, at about 9:30am, we had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo vocalizing at the western entrance gate to Fremont Weir State Wildlife Area (Rd 116A, near 38.7590,-121.6714). The bird started calling from high in a cluster of cottonwoods above our heads, then continued vocalizing as it flew somewhere to the west, upstream along the river. Despite concerted efforts to relocate the bird (with the help of Joan Humphrey, Jason Riggio, and Michael Perrone), we could not again detect the bird during the next 3 hours of searching.

Ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47972007 .

Holly Coates & Emmett Iverson

Davis, CA

I can relate…… way too much time watching hums!! =)
Have yard work and other stuff to do, must do.
LA

—– Original Message —–

From: “Peggy Wyman peggywyman@gmail.com [ible]”
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 6:47:11 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Re: New yard bird: Rufous Hummer

Here in Idaho Falls I have had more hummingbird activity than ever before in the nine years I’ve lived here. I’ve had one or two Calliope’s which I’ve never seen before in my yard. I’ve had a female black-chinned on a regular basis and yesterday I’m pretty sure a male black-chinned came back after a few weeks absence, after having seen them all summer. And I’ve got four or five Rufous bombarding everybody! It is so fun to watch them that I’m spending way too much time hummingbird watching!

Here in Idaho Falls I have had more hummingbird activity than ever before
in the nine years I’ve lived here. I’ve had one or two Calliope’s which
I’ve never seen before in my yard. I’ve had a female black-chinned on a
regular basis and yesterday I’m pretty sure a male black-chinned came back
after a few weeks absence, after having seen them all summer. And I’ve got
four or five Rufous bombarding everybody! It is so fun to watch them that
I’m spending way too much time hummingbird watching!

I’m probably the last person in Boise to have finally recognized a Rufous
Hummer in his yard, but I’m as happy as a hog at the trough. Susan has been
telling me that she’s been seeing a “different” hummer in the yard, and I
have caught glimpses, but today the little jewel hung around near a window
while I had binoculars already in hand, and then she (?) went to the hanging
fuchsia and worked over a number of flowers. Since I have Sibley open to
hummingbirds on a nearby chest of drawers, and since I’ve been paging
through that section over and over, I’m happy to say that I’m confident in
my ID.

On another note, I would agree that hummingbird activity has increased this
summer. I have been privy to more aerial combat than ever before, and they
sometimes come to the window to either say “thank you” or “we need more
sugar water!” Sometimes I think it’s a little of both. 😉

Tom McCabe, Boise

Besides the hummingbird feeder action, I’ve had a few interesting observations since Thu. It took me until last evening to confirm, but I’ve seen an adult Peregrine Falcon on three occasions on & near the place. Finally, got a good binocular look yest. Also, have seen a couple of Dusky Fly-catchers along with both adult & juvenile W Wood-Pewees. And both adult & juvenile Cedar Waxwings which nested in my windrow of Rocky Mountain junipers. This AM, had a Red-naped Sapsucker working through backyard willows.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Idaho Birders,

For those of you who use eBird, the once-a-year taxonomic update (which
included some major changes in the sequence of bird families and species) is
now almost complete. A detailed article was posted yesterday on the eBird
website, at the following URL:

https://ebird.org/news/2018-ebird-taxonomy-update

The article is very long, and includes a complete listing of all the splits,
lumps and other taxonomic changes around the world (whew!!). However, I
would recommend that everyone who uses eBird should read at least the first
few paragraphs of this article.

Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC, Canada

contopus@telus.net

Calliope Hummingbirds have joined the other two (Black-chinned & Rufous) this AM. Larry may have the answer, all the flowering plants I find are also dry & brittle. Hummers may be on the move in large numbers, as native nectar sources have dried up.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Missy and I took our annual hike at Bogus this morning, up through mixed conifer, 6600 – 7500 ft, enjoyed temperatures in the 60s, 35 sp of birds and two Snowshoe Hares. =) It was extremely dry!! Flowering plants (lupine, fireweed, paintbrush, larkspur) looked like they had spent the night in our food dryer, and offered virtually no nectar for hummingbirds. Maybe this explains why we presently have more birds at our humfeeders than we’ve ever had?

Notre liste eBird: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47905134

Larry

—

Looks like the fall Rufous Hummingbird Migration is in full force through SE Idaho right now. The past two days, I’ve had numerous male, female & juvenile Rufous hitting the nectar feeders. And some epic mid-air chases & face-to-face battles with my resident Black-chinneds.

There is one male Black-chinned that tries to dominate one feeder starting about 6:30 every AM. He makes a good show of it for about 45 minutes, until he’s simply overwhelmed by numbers. A fun show!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot