Hi IBLE
Yesterday, ~30 birders enjoyed birding around Bruneau & the CJ Strike reservoir (CBC area map attached) on a pretty darn nice day for Dec 29 – followed by a delicious dinner at the Y Bar cafe in Grand View.  Preliminary count is 99 species on count day, including a number of fun finds – here’s a sampling of what stood out from the list (at least in my mind :-):
– Trumpeter & Tundra Swans
– 2 Common Loons

– 4 owl species (but no Short-eared, as usual recently)
– Bewick’s Wren (@ Jack’s Creek) – possibly a count first?  Almost certainly the same individual found there by Cheryl on an Audubon field trip last month

– 2 Say’s Phoebes
– 8 Ferruginous Hawks

– 8 sparrow species (not counting junco & towhee, which were also seen), including:

– American Tree
– Harris’s (just S of Bruneau R along hwy 51)

– Lincoln’s
– Savannah
– Swamp (@ Jack’s Creek)

– White-throated (@ Jack’s Creek)

– 4 Lesser Goldfinch
– 6 Mountain Bluebirds

We did have a few somewhat surprising “misses” on the day, including:
– several waterfowl, including Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, & Redhead
– Black-capped Chickadee – can sometimes be found in trees in town of Bruneau … or any other patches of deciduous trees, just usually not in pure Russian Olive stands

– Townsend’s Solitaire – especially in junipers
– Northern Shrike
– Orange-crowned Warbler

This Christmas count usually doesn’t get much “count week” action since most/all participants don’t live there but I figure there might be some birders that visited Wed-Fri of this last week (26th-28th) and/or might visit in the 3 days after the count (today through Tues, Jan 1).  If anyone does visit (or has already visited) within the bounds of the count circle b/t Dec 26 & Jan 1 and sees any of these species, please let me know.
Thanks & happy new year!
Jay