Maybe because it’s spring and birds are everywhere that more posting is to
be expected? But *eyiyi* there have been some fun postings on IBLE
recently! Thank you Scott, Brian, Jason, Cliff, Zeke, Kim, Tom, and..
Wendy, you are a very welcome addition to Idaho and to IBLE. =)

Missy and I have just returned home from our SE Idaho walkabout for year
birds. For the most part, roads were in good shape with few closures due to
washouts, lingering snow cover, and downed trees. But I gotta say, birding
riparian areas by ear was a challenge with the increased ambient noise due
to spring runoff (at historic levels across S Idaho?)

Some trip stats:

Counties we birded: Power, Bannock, Bingham, Jefferson, Teton, Caribou,
Bear Lake

eBirds lists we entered: 23

Species we found: 154

Idaho year birds: 23

We dipped on a few hopeful targets, including Cattle Egret, some woodpecker
and flycatcher species, Catbird, and Wilson’s Wobbler, but..

Toppermost were these:

Roaming around Sterling WMA is always fun: very little traffic,
interesting/unexpected patches of habitat, lots of birds, and nearly always
some unexpected species.

With shorebird migration winding down and passerine migration ramping up, we
were happy with 14 sp of shorebirds, including Black-bellied Plover at two
locations.

We also found American Bittern at two locations, and were thrilled with our
“close encounter” yesterday at Bear Lake, as in Close!

Grays Lake and Bear Lake are always amazing for their Sandhill Cranes and
Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

Two Black Terns this morning at Alexander Reservoir provided a sweet grand
finale!

There were many moments when/where we just wanted to sit back and chill.. to
soak up the varied avian orchestrations, of which there were many! =)

Good boid’n!

Larry Arnold, Boise