Howdy,
Yesterday I found three groups of Snow Geese on and around AFR. One group of about 2000 were in a pasture north of Edwards Rd., which is south east of Springfield. Two groups of about 150 and 1000 were resting on the reservoir out from Yuma Rd. This is the latest I’ve seen them hang around after everything is thawed out.
Good Boiden,
Chuck Trost
Always forward, never straight…
Saw my first group of Tree Swallows of the season today. About 10 birds working overhead, above the yard. Also, a large group of 25 White Pelicans flew over. Yesterday, was a good day for raptors from the yard with 5 Red-tailed Hawks seen, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, an Am Kestrel & 5 Bald Eagles (2 were 2nd year birds, the rest adults). Song Sparrows are singing & DE Junco numbers are decreasing.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
While the Williamson’s Sapsucker did not cooperate by sticking around, I
managed to find 51 species today in 24 miles of biking. I had to “portage”
my bike around some flooded greenbelt on the Garden City side, and the
tunnel under Glenwood was flooded, but the birds were relatively
cooperative. I only found 1 FOY bird (Tree Swallow) but I found 7 raptors
(W.S. Owl, RT Hawk, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, A. Kestrel, GH Owl, and Bald
Eagle) and plenty of ducks.
The paved path that used to end at Laguna Pointe now continues on around the
south side of that subdivision of mansions, but the “primitive surface”
path along the river bank was closed, possibly due to high water. (Of course
the HOA of Laguna Pointe would love to stop everybody from traipsing along
the riverbank in full view of the landowners.) Unfortunately, the recently
added paved surface winds around the edge of the open field where we used to
occasionally see Egrets. That’s probably history.
Ironically, my 51st bird was waiting for me at my house, an American
Goldfinch. This was my highest count so far this year, by 1 bird. Since I’ve
only seen 70 species thus far in the year, today was a pretty good tally.
Tom McCabe, Boise
Williamson’s sapsucker still st the Lander WTP
Bob Perata
Boise, Idaho
Bob,
> On Apr 5, 2018, at 1:01 PM, LARRY ARNOLD larnold47@cableone.net [ible]
>
>
> lemme add that the bird was consistently near the top of an evergreen nearest (and west of) the loo, within 75 m of the RBSA spot of a couple winters ago, hope this helps the chasers and listers… =)
>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: “LARRY ARNOLD”
> To: “IBLE”
> Cc: “Larry Arnold”
> Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:57:44 PM
> Subject: WISA along Boise River Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Apr 5, 2018
>
> great find, Tom!! =)
> apparently this is a sapsucker HOT SPOT
>
> —– Forwarded Message —–
> From: ebird-checklist@cornell.edu
> To: larnold47@cableone.net
> Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:52:14 PM
> Subject: eBird Report – Boise Rive Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Apr 5, 2018
>
> Boise Rive Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Ada, Idaho, US
> Apr 5, 2018 12:25 PM – 12:35 PM
> Protocol: Stationary
> Comments: in light drizzle, 45 oc/c
> 2 species
>
> Williamson’s Sapsucker 1 female plumage, thanks for calling us Tom, great find, woohoo !!!
> Northern Flicker 1
>
> View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44274443
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
>
I was on my usual bike ride and had just come out of the restroom at Lander
St. when I heard a bird calling that I did not recognize. While I do not
know all the Boise River birds by sound, I knew I had never heard this sound
along the river. The bird continued to make little “whinny” noises, which
made it relatively easy to find. As soon as I saw the bird, I knew I had
something different. The bird was obviously a type of woodpecker, but it had
none of the markings I’m familiar with. It’s back was like a Ladder-backed
Woodpecker, but so was its front, which didn’t fit anything in my memory
banks. Adhering to Harry Krueger’s advice to watch the bird before grabbing
the guide, I stood and watched its continued activity, trying to get a
better view of its head for any markings.
In the meantime I called Larry and Missy Arnold for some backup. While they
were en route, I realized the bird was acting like a sapsucker, going back
over areas where it had already pecked. I searched the photos in iBirdPro
and found a match in the female (juvenile?) Williamson’s Sapsucker. While I
had seen adult males in the mountains before, I had never seen this
particular plumage, which made it quite a treat.
Larry and Missy arrived and confirmed my identification, and I was as happy
as a hog at the trough.
For anybody chasing, the bird was sticking to a pine tree just west of the
rest room. The 2 trunks of the tree form a large “V.”
Tom McCabe, Boise
Hi,
Thanks for the find Tom McCabe and for posting Larry. The bird is still in
evergreen west of bathroom. In tree that is forked near the bottom.
Danette Henderson
Voicemail from Tom McCabe that he’s looking at a female – same vicinity as where Red-naped & Red-breasted have been seen in past winters!
Jay
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
lemme add that the bird was consistently near the top of an evergreen nearest (and west of) the loo, within 75 m of the RBSA spot of a couple winters ago, hope this helps the chasers and listers… =)
—– Original Message —–
From: “LARRY ARNOLD”
To: “IBLE”
Cc: “Larry Arnold”
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:57:44 PM
Subject: WISA along Boise River Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Apr 5, 2018
great find, Tom!! =)
apparently this is a sapsucker HOT SPOT
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: ebird-checklist@cornell.edu
To: larnold47@cableone.net
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:52:14 PM
Subject: eBird Report – Boise Rive Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Apr 5, 2018
Boise Rive Greenbelt at Lander WTP, Ada, Idaho, US
Apr 5, 2018 12:25 PM – 12:35 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: in light drizzle, 45 oc/c
2 species
Williamson’s Sapsucker 1 female plumage, thanks for calling us Tom, great find, woohoo !!!
Northern Flicker 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44274443
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
I just got my 67th specie for my yard – a Spotted Towhee, with great rufous sides. When I looked out at my feeder area about 15 minutes ago, I saw a bird flit that I thought, “that’s really large for a Junco”, so I got out my camera and binocs and – sure enough – it was my first-ever Spotted Towhee here. An exciting start to the day. Everyone have a great one! Jonathan, HSB
Sent from Mail
Swainson’s Hawks seemed to arrive right on time again this year. I saw
my first in Pocatello on the 2nd and there were a few reported on March
30-31. There’s an interesting discussion of early arriving (or not)
Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks taking place on the ebird review group
right now and I want to share a couple things I found very interesting.
Tony Leukering posted links to a couple of his articles detailing
identification pitfalls, some of which are not on most of our radar.
They’re at:
https://cobirds.org/cfo/ColoradoBirds/InTheScope/30.pdf
http://cowyebird.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-arrival-of-swainsons-hawks.html?m=1
Check out the photo of an adult Redtail at the first link. A very
interesting bird. The other thing I found really cool is looking at
eBird maps for the month of March for both species. There are plenty of
records for southern locations and a scattering of northerly records for
both species. However if you click the “Explore Rich Media” checkbox at
the right of the map (checking this box eliminates points for checklists
that don’t include photos or other media) all the Broad-winged records
north of North Carolina and Tennessee and all the interior west records
north of southern Idaho and Oregon disappear. ALL of them. Strong
evidence to support that Swainson’s Hawks rarely move north ahead of the
main migration pulse. Here’s a link to the map for Idaho:
https://ebird.org/map/swahaw?neg=true&env.minX=-133.4779375&env.minY=39.57926189552747&env.maxX=-94.8060625&env.maxY=51.04746231191178&zh=true&gp=true&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=3&emo=3&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2018
Check out all the northerly records then click the rich media box and
watch the result.
So if ever you find one early, even only 2-3 days, remember how
important it is to get photos to document the occurrence.
Cliff
—
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@octobersetters.com