I found a couple white-winged crossbill mixed in with approximately 25 Red Crossbill in the northeast corner of Rose Hill Cemetery on my lunch break today. Both male and female. I followed the sound and finally found a couple with white wing bars after sifting through many Red Crossbill. There may have been as much as four feeding in the tops of the conifers.
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
On Saturday afternoon, approximately 1000 gulls were congregated at the
north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene, from downtown to Wolf Lodge Bay. Few were
visible from Independence Point/City Beach in downtown CDA, so I continued
on to Blue Creek Bay, where 400-500 individuals included a first year
GLAUCOUS GULL and the or an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. A scope is
generally required to view gulls at this location. The Glaucous soon
disappeared while I was looking elsewhere, but I later relocated it
immediately off of the main parking area on the south side of Wolf Lodge
Bay. There were MANY Eagle Peepers present, and they looked at me like I
was crazy, watching and photographing the gulls while ignoring the
congregating eagles.
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID
Howdy,
I drove around AFR this afternoon counting groups of TRSW in the fields. They are widely scattered along route 39 from north of Aberdeen to beyond Springfield. Group sizes varied between 10 and 100. There was one mortality under a power lines by the Springfield-Taber Road. One of the swans east of Springfield had yellow feet, a mutation I saw last year. There are also groups along Philbin and Rio Vista Roads on the Fort Hall Reservation.
Good Birding,
Chuck Trost
Always forward, never straight…
I birded today from Sandpoint to the Canadian Border. It felt awfully
brisk all day after 60 degrees in Lewiston yesterday. I started at the
Sandpoint Fish Hatchery with a MARSH WREN and about 40 COMMON REDPOLLS.
Sandpoint City Beach had lots of birds, including ~600 Common Mergansers
and a few Greater Scaup. At Hawkins Point I had 40-50 Red-necked Grebes, a
handful of Red-breasted Mergansers, and about 6 Bonaparte’s Gulls. The
Driftwood Yard at the Clark Fork Delta had a few more Greater Scaup and a
small flock of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, which have been sparse so far this fall.
Onward to Boundary County, waterfowl were laying low and running scared in
the Kootenai River Valley. A Common Loon was my Boundary County first at
Kerr Lake (scope-able from the intersection of West Side and Copeland
Roads, west of the community of Copeland). At Boundary Creek WMA, the
second to last bird was the best one of the day. I watched as a PACIFIC
LOON swam down the Kootenai River from Idaho, past the confluence with
Boundary Creek, and into Canada for TWO more quick county ticks. I
finished the day with a Great Horned Owl along Kerr Lake Road at dusk
Good Birding,
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID
Was able to squeeze in almost an hour of birding at Mann Lake today. Got
the PALM WARBLER! Lifer! Thanks again Carl! Also, got nice views and photos
of a Marsh Wren. Heard some chip notes that may have been Swamp Sparrow but
then the kids were ready for the next adventure and we had to go. Maybe I
can head back for more fun on Sunday?
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40710828
Good Birding,
John Hanna
Lewiston, Idaho
This afternoon, both the Black Scoter and Long-tailed Duck were still at the Gridley Bridge in the vicinity of the small island near the bridge at US-30 south of Hagerman. LT duck was diving intermittently underneath the bridge. After 45 minutes or so, the scoter appeared swimming in from down-river.
John Battalio
I forgot to add :
Pine Grosbeak 2
Evening Grosbeak 3
________________________________
From: Susan Patla
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2017 4:28 AM
To: Ible
Subject: Thanksgiving in Packsaddle
Greetings,
I have been hanging a suet cake for years during the winter here at our home in the foothills of the Big Hole Mountains. It would last a week or two easily. This past month however we have a few Clark’s nutcrackers and at least 3 Steller’s jays that have been decimating the cake in one day. I watched a Clark’s carrying off a big chunk this morning He perched three different times on the tops of conifers as he worked to the back of the yard and then flew out of sight towards the forest. The gang works on it throughout the day.
In a fast walk this morning at 9am (41 degrees and all the snow gone now) I also saw:
Black-billed magpies 3
American Robins 4 (had not seen any for a few weeks)
Bohemian Waxwing 35
Townsend’s Solitaire singing
Mountain Chickadee 6
Susan, Teton Valley
Greetings,
I have been hanging a suet cake for years during the winter here at our home in the foothills of the Big Hole Mountains. It would last a week or two easily. This past month however we have a few Clark’s nutcrackers and at least 3 Steller’s jays that have been decimating the cake in one day. I watched a Clark’s carrying off a big chunk this morning He perched three different times on the tops of conifers as he worked to the back of the yard and then flew out of sight towards the forest. The gang works on it throughout the day.
In a fast walk this morning at 9am (41 degrees and all the snow gone now) I also saw:
Black-billed magpies 3
American Robins 4 (had not seen any for a few weeks)
Bohemian Waxwing 35
Townsend’s Solitaire singing
Mountain Chickadee 6
Susan, Teton Valley
The highlight of a warm Thanksgiving morning of birding in the Lewis-Clark
Valley was an extraordinary stop at Mann Lake. I got out to scope the lake
from a pullout just before the settling ponds and immediately heard the
distinctive calls of a SWAMP SPARROW coming from near the Settling Ponds.
As I approached, a truck passed, and the bird stopped calling. I circled
around the east side of the ponds and then began walking back west on the
berm that runs along the north side of the settling ponds. I then heard
and eventually saw the SWAMP SPARROW foraging on the north side of the
berm, in the dense grass and willows. As I was watching it, I could hear a
second SWAMP SPARROW calling behind me, from the dense grass lining the
middle settling pond. After securing photos of the first one, I went and
successfully got photos of the second. Photos of both and a video with
call notes are in my eBird checklist (link below). As I was watching the
sparrows, I was shocked to hear an Empidonax “whit” call coming from the
densest willows north of the berm.
I had left my truck open and scope unattended when ran off after the Swamp
Sparrow call, so I returned to put stuff away and close up. I then made me
way down to the lake shore via the currently under-construction stairs west
of the settling ponds. I figured that I might find the empid by walking
the lake shore and looking back into the riparian vegetation. Instead, the
PALM WARBLER quickly popped up, and I was off on the mad dash to watch and
document it. I quickly lost the Palm (after getting a couple usable
shots), and all the rare birds were quiet and unaccounted for. I walked
way up the lake shore beyond the model airplane area, and then returned to
the settling pond area (but still walking the water’s edge). There, I
finally got my first looks at the empid. What I saw informed my original
impression and hunch that it was a DUSKY FLYCATCHER. The call narrowed it
down to Dusky, Gray, and Willow, with the later being near impossible at
this date. The plumage, foraging motions, and behavior were all consistent
with Dusky and not Gray (see eBird checklist for details, one poor photo,
and a video featuring call notes). This was actually the hardest of the
rare birds to watch and document, and stuck to the dense willows north of
the berm/settling ponds. It was almost always heard before, or to the
exclusion of, being seen.
I did also eventually catch back up with the PALM WARBLER and then found it
intermittently quite easy to watch. During my first encounter, it was
mostly alone, but later it was foraging in the company of Yellow-rumps and
Juncos. It’s recognizable call note is almost intermediate between those 2
species (but louder), and helps in locating it (common theme for all these
rare birds). My best viewing was near the willow edge nearest to the
“under-construction stairs” where a little spit of water runs toward the
road, and that is where I would start looking for it.
Also present were the continuing flock of 50+ SNOW GEESE, 7 TUNDRA SWANS,
28 Killdeer, 1 BONAPARTE’S GULL, at least 2 MARSH WRENS, and a very random
flyover singleton BOHEMIAN WAXWING.
Photos and other documentation are in my eBird checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40685573.
Mann Lake is at the east end of Powers Avenue east of Lewiston Orchards in
Nez Perce County.
Feeling Grateful for great birding this fall and wishing you a Happy
Holiday.
Carl Lundblad
Moscow, ID
“THANKS for GIVING” me some nice birds to look at besides the snow geese
horned grebe comm.mergan.comm.gold eye all lake Lowell lower dam