Today was mainly one of finches. American Goldfinches in numbers approaching 50 are really hitting the black-oil sunflower seeds. Then, the appearance this AM of the Evening Grosbeaks, males & females. House Finches are always present. But, the other surprise was a male & female Cassin’s Finch pair. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been a no-show today.

Also, saw a first of season Red-naped Sapsucker. After reaching a high of 79° today, a front pushing through now has cooled temps back down to 66°. Will see what tomorrow brings!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

For those of you in the Boise area who have not seen a Western Grebe yet
this year, there was one hanging out at Quinn’s Pond today. I had hoped that
the flow of weather from the south would bring more migrants, but this is
the only one I could find today. Hopefully the WEGR will hang around for a
while.

Tom McCabe, Boise

This morning saw FOY Yellow-rumped Warbler. Male in full dress. Also numbers of Violet-green and Tree Swallows. Will post full list later.
Susan

Sent via Passenger Pigeon

This AM, Evening Grosbeaks are at the feeders. The males are really striking in their bright spring colors: lemon yellow eyebrows & big white wing patches. White-crowned Sparrows are feeding on spilled seed (not sure why Magpies feel they have to scatter seed everywhere!). I haven’t seen the Rose-breasted Grosbeak yet, his visits are sporadic anyway, but hoping the Evenings are just making him wary of coming in.

I have a family group of 10 Cedar Waxwings in my juniper trees. And I found a hatched Robin’s eggshell yesterday. That’s a pair that didn’t wait to get started with spring nesting & egg-laying! Others this week have been: a single House Wren, Kildeer & Mourning Dove.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Is anyone planning to participate in the Global Big Day this year?
Idaho’s participation was pretty low last year, almost certainly
because of the early date of May 13. I participated last year. I
stayed in Bannock County and found 101 species with no owling, plus it
was windy and cold with about 2” of snow during the peak morning hrs.
Also, I counted birds all day. I didn’t just tick species.

I plan to do another all-day Bannock County effort and hope to beat my
results from last year. I know the area much better than last year and
won’t have as much wasted time. But the count is even earlier this
year – May 5! Certainly, I would find more species if I did my Big
Day in early June. But I’d rather my time, energy and petroleum go
toward a bigger effort.

Sent from my iPhone

So, Tom, did you count that dead mourning dove. ?
Marla Hicks

Oi, Tom, I always enjoy your calls, never annoying! and you had an impressive tally for the Greenbelt in April… feels like half the species haven’t arrived yet.
as for indecisiveness, ask Missy what it’s like to bird with me, or ask Cheryl about a certain Cooper’s Hawk, or a Snow Bunting (both long ago, far away, in another dimension, on a CBC). 😉
sometimes i think birding is all about how well we can handle embarrassment, eh? it’s something i fail at.
Thanks again for calling, Tom, always.
Larry

—– Original Message —–

From: “‘Tom McCabe’ tmccabe9@cableone.net [ible]”
To: ible@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 8:12:26 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Hull’s Gulch and beyond

I started the day early in Hull’s Gulch, and left there with 29 birds. I got home in time to add #30 in my back yard—a Cooper’s eating a M. Dove. In Hull’s Gulch I found 2 FOY birds, a Virginia Rail and a Calliope Hummer. The latter bird sat and preened in a nearby bush.

I then headed to Esther Simplot, then to Remington St., then to Laguna Pointe, then to Hyatt Wetlands. When I got back to Esther Simplot, I only had 51 birds and no Mergansers. But then I realized there was a female actively fishing in the main pond. I initially decided it was a Red-breasted, and called Larry Arnold to let him know. Then I had second thoughts, called him back and said Common. But then I spent a long time watching the bird and finally concluded it was, indeed, a Red-breasted. By that point I was too embarrassed to call Larry again, so I headed home with 52 birds. Just across Whitewater Park Blvd., I heard my first A. Crow of the day, and presto! I had 53 birds. It was a 30 mile ride, and I was beat when I got home, but it was also a gorgeous day to be riding my bike all over the place. (And I’ve apologized to Larry for being so indecisive and annoying.)

Tom McCabe, Boise

I started the day early in Hull’s Gulch, and left there with 29 birds. I got
home in time to add #30 in my back yard-a Cooper’s eating a M. Dove. In
Hull’s Gulch I found 2 FOY birds, a Virginia Rail and a Calliope Hummer. The
latter bird sat and preened in a nearby bush.

I then headed to Esther Simplot, then to Remington St., then to Laguna
Pointe, then to Hyatt Wetlands. When I got back to Esther Simplot, I only
had 51 birds and no Mergansers. But then I realized there was a female
actively fishing in the main pond. I initially decided it was a
Red-breasted, and called Larry Arnold to let him know. Then I had second
thoughts, called him back and said Common. But then I spent a long time
watching the bird and finally concluded it was, indeed, a Red-breasted. By
that point I was too embarrassed to call Larry again, so I headed home with
52 birds. Just across Whitewater Park Blvd., I heard my first A. Crow of the
day, and presto! I had 53 birds. It was a 30 mile ride, and I was beat when
I got home, but it was also a gorgeous day to be riding my bike all over the
place. (And I’ve apologized to Larry for being so indecisive and annoying.)

Tom McCabe, Boise

I humbly second this notion (substituting “IBLE” for “Texbirds” in Justin’s note below) about the relevance of our state listserv v. Facebook……. eh?
This is probably not new news? 😉
Larry, Boise

—–Original Message—–
From: texbirds-bounce@freelists.org [mailto:texbirds-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Justin Bosler
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 6:02 AM
To: daneferrell@hotmail.com; 4 Texbirds Maillist
Subject: [texbirds] Re: Violet-crowned Hummingbird in Nueces County

Thanks for sharing, Dane. Texbirds is still very relevant (in spite of the

mass migration to Facebook) and much more direct when it comes to sharing

reports of rare birds with the birding community than one of the many

Facebook groups with various titles, access and/or permissions. Who has the

time to hunt through Facebook groups for bits and pieces of information? In

my experience, alerts and notifications aren’t always timely or reliable,

for that matter.

In my opinion, Texbirds is still the go-to source for sharing sightings and

information.

Thanks!

Justin Bosler

currently in Dallas, TX

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 7:33 AM Dane Ferrell wrote:

> For those not on Facebook or in touch with the grapevine, there is a VC

> hummer in our back yard since Saturday morning and it remains this morning:

> 4301 Ravine Drive, CC, TX 78410. We are in and out but you can see the

> hummer. Park in the driveway, walk through the carport, through the open

> gate to the chairs. Sit or stand on sidewalk and watch the red glass hummer

> feeder. It perches within 10 feet of the feeder in the mountain laurels or

> hackberry trees. Please do not get too close – relax in the chairs there,

> the bird will come. Also, please be careful not to point binoculars to the

> neighbors feeder – it does not go there and the neighbor is not thrilled

> about the extra attention lately.

> Dane Ferrell

> Corpus Christi, Texas

>

>

I’ve been waiting for some spring migrants to show. And, in the meantime, donating pounds of black-oil sunflower seeds to 30+ American Goldfinches at a time.

Well, this afternoon while watching goldfinches, an adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak came into the feeder. Quite a surprise but welcome sight! My first Idaho sightings of this species were sev juveniles & probably one Rose-breasted/Black-headed hybrid last fall at my feeders. It will be exciting to see what happens this year with Rose-breasteds.

Others this past week: Swainson’s Hawks, Wood Ducks, Sandhill Crane, White-faced Ibis, White Pelicans, Osprey, numerous Eared Grebes, Ruddy Duck & Western Meadowlark. Also, little brown bats have returned to their roost box & both N Leopard Frogs & Great Basin Spadefoot Toads are calling at night. Still waiting for the Chorus Frogs to get going, sometimes by the hundreds.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot