Jay, Heidi, and I had a *Melospiza *filled morning at Ted Trueblood WMA
helping Boise State grad student Kate Owens and her fiance Ben trap Song
Sparrows for Kate’s Master’s work (with permission from WMA managers). The
highlight was catching 27 *Melospiza *sparrows at once, including 10 Swamp
Sparrows, 5 Lincoln’s Sparrows, and 12 Song Sparrows. The incredible number
of Swamp Sparrows left us reeling, since we had visited the area twice
already this fall for Southwestern Idaho Birder’s Association and Golden
Eagle Audubon Society field trips. Our first visit yielded no Swamp
Sparrows, and a week ago we detected only 4 individuals (a high count for
the site at the time). While processing our 10 Swamps, two remained in the
reeds nearby calling, providing us a total of 12 Swamp Sparrow’s for the
site! All Swamp Sparrows we captured were young of the year, likely
indicative of a productive breeding season for the species. Also notable,
all birds had good fat and muscle scores which is indicative of good
health, and upon release flew away with vigor.

Ted Trueblood WMA has been very generous to us in the past, hosting two of
the three Idaho state records for Le Conte’s Sparrow. It continues to be a
state sparrow mecca with this incredible high number for Swamp Sparrow. Who
knows what will turn up in the future (crossing fingers for Field
Sparrow).

Substantiating evidence of the claim can be found at
www.ornithologi.com along with
a link to our eBird list.

All the best birds to you all,

Bryce