Hi Idaho birders,

I am visiting Idaho for the first time for five days in June. I’ll be in
Boise, and then driving to the Twin Falls area, and then back to Boise. I
guess I’m interesting in knowing some good birding spots to check out in
these areas, and in between. I like to look for waterfowl, shorebirds,
herons/egrets etc. and will have my scope, and also I want to visit
different habitats like mountains, foothills, prairie, etc., so I can see
as many different species of birds that are possible this time of year in
this area of Idaho. There seems to be a lot of e-bird hot-spots in the
area, but I’m not too sure which would be the best ones to go to, during
June for breeding species. I’m guessing most grouse/quail like birds are
hard to find in June, if some aren’t I’d be interested in knowing where to
look for them. Are Mute Swans officially on the Idaho State list, or are
they just an non-countable exotic? It appears there’s a lot of
woodpeckers, owls, sparrows, and flycatcher species around too, which would
be fun to look for. I don’t know if there is any chance to see any state
rarities during this time of year, in this area, but I will keep my eyes
open, and try to get a photo, if I happen to find something strange and
certainly let you all know. I look forward to seeing and hearing many
western birds and visiting part of your lovely state.

My e-mail is allie.m2000a@gmail.com, you can respond to me directly with
any suggestions.

Thanks,
Allie M
Mississppi

No sign at CJ this morning
Vern Tunnell.

Vern Tunnell
866-820-7506

Sun.6:30 p.m.very windy getting dark stormy birds comm.mergan n. pintail
mallard coot blk.n.stilt avocet Caspian tern foster tern ring bill gull
possible herring gull .pelicans bald eagle osprey

Steve Butterworth and I have been talking about doing a Jefferson County big day for a few years. Yesterday we finally did one.

We started at Kelly Canyon ski resort at 4:20am to listen for Owls. We then hit some bird feeding stations near Heise golf course for hummingbirds and Pinyon Jays (no luck on the jays). We then went back up to Kelly canyon for the morning chorus. We hiked Cress Creek for juniper birds. We then drove to Mud Lake to scan for water birds. We then hit Camas and Market Lake for marsh birds and migrant songbirds. We also drove the desert for sage specialties.

We had some big misses, (no catharus thrushes, no Kingfisher, few warbler species, etc) but lucked into a few unexpected birds (Common Poorwill, Red-eyed Vireo, Common Loon, 6 Owl species).

A big day is full of compromises and trade-offs. An earlier date would have given us more ducks and shorebirds. A later date would have given us a few more breeding birds. We were hoping to get most breeding birds and to catch the tail end of migration, which seemed to work out. We had a great and exhausting day. We ended the day with 148 species. If everything fell into place, I think 155 is possible.

A checklist can be found here:

Sent from my iPhone

Still at Jacks Creek access.

Denise Hughes
Caldwell, Idaho

When the Robins woke me up around 5, I wasn’t too enthusiastic, but when the
Screech Owls chimed in, I decided I needed to go to Hulls Gulch before the
crowds. The first person I encountered was Amy Silver, and she immediately
asked if I was looking for the owl. I assumed she meant the Great Horned
Owl, so I acted nonchalant. But when she told me Mary Korkor had come all
the way from Wisconsin to find a Barred Owl on my doorstep, I got excited.

Amy gave me directions to where she had seen it. But despite searching for a
while, I came up with lots of other birds, but no BAOW. So I was really
pleased to see Amy still at the first parking lot, and she volunteered to
show me where she had seen the blighter. We biked back up the road and then
wandered around for all of 5 minutes when I realized I was staring at a very
calm and composed Barred Owl. Talk about soul satisfying views! But it
wasn’t until I got home that I confirmed that my life list did not have a
check mark beside this particular owl.

And while I dipped on Gray Catbird (again), I did find the Northern Harrier
again, only this time both male and female, again being pursued by RWBB’s.
Plus there are still W. Tanagers hanging around (nesting?) and the immature
GHOW’s were hanging around with one of the adults, and they are definitely
the same size.

Hulls Gulch got really crowded so I headed to the river, but it was only
marginally better. Final tally for the day was 50 birds in 16 miles of
biking, including 7 raptors (W. Screech Owl, Barred Owl, G. Horned Owl,
Swainson’s Hawk, RT Hawk, A. Kestrel, and Osprey).

But a big THANK YOU! to Mary Korkor for finding, and Amy Silver for sharing,
a wonderful bird.

Tom McCabe, Boise

RL Rowland and Jim James called to report a Snowy Plover at Jack’s Creek Access at CJ Strike in Owyhee County just now.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Activity sure picked up here in Teton Valley. Susan Tetonia (Big Hole Mt.. foothills)

________________________________________
From: ebird-checklist@cornell.edu
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2018 6:41 PM
To: susan_patla@hotmail.com
Subject: eBird Report – Packsaddle road north, May 26, 2018

Packsaddle road north, Teton, Idaho, US
May 26, 2018 9:15 AM – 11:15 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments: walked up Kay’s hill and back down the new road, 59 deg F, very green world now filled with bird song, just counted on way up the road, all counts likely low
33 species

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) 1 drumming
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) 1
Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) 1
Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) 2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) (Colaptes auratus [cafer Group]) 1
Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) 12 also heard Du-Hic calls, heard all along the route
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) 8 in aspens
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) 2
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 1
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 4
Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 2
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) 5
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 16
MacGillivray’s Warbler (Geothlypis tolmiei) 4
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) (Setophaga coronata auduboni) 2
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 6
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 4
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 2
Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) 1 most must be nesting now as many more singing two weeks ago
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) 2
Lincoln’s Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 3
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) 2
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) 4
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) 1
Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii) 2
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 2 singing
Cassin’s Finch (Haemorhous cassinii) 3
Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) 8

View this checklist online at https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Fview%2Fchecklist%2FS46041338&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ccffd8672357948e3dc8408d5c338571e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636629569099421216&sdata=ecaSC8gutWZBBcMScqjvaO1jnU4WxRo%2BOu5Nspli0Yk%3D&reserved=0

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Febird.org&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ccffd8672357948e3dc8408d5c338571e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636629569099421216&sdata=MEBdtSBXFduWscaQgOLZB46eRH1h%2Be%2F%2Fga1yKqABCw4%3D&reserved=0)

Thanks for all the suggestions about birding hotspots. I didn’t stick around the house long enough to wait for your ideas, but seems I found one of the best ones with the help of eBird hotspots. I posted a photo on my eBird of the Barred Owl that I spotted at Hulls Gulch. I was surprised to learn it is rare here. Also found the Great Horned Owl family almost directly across the road from where the Barred was hanging out. Were it not for a distressed Mallard calling constantly, I would have completely overlooked the Barred.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and good birding!
Mary Korkor
Hartland, WI

Not a new bird but a new event that, fortunately, turned out fine. Adding the Oriole feeder to my yard pole and having a hummer feeder off the deck rail has been quite entertaining lately, esp in the evenings. There’s at least 3 different Orioles visiting their feeder & a male and female Black-chinned Hummingbird (hopefully nesting) pair hitting the hummer feeder.

I was relaxing on the deck watching the action at both feeders, when the female Black-chinned Hummingbird came in. She fed for a bit & instead of heading back to her spruce tree perch, bee-lined right by ear, headed for the house. I heard a soft “thunk” behind me followed by rapid trilling chirps. She had impaled her bill through the sliding glass door screen! The glass was slid all the way open and the little hummer must have not seen the fine weave of the screen. I turned just in time to see her bill through the mesh as her wings beat frantically against the screen. Fortunately, the hummer placed herself in reverse, backed out of the screen & then flew to about 10 yards away to inspect what she had run her bill through and didn’t appear any worse for wear. That was a new one for me.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot