Lucky Peak update, 9/29

Songbirds

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 119
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 3
Orange-crowned Warbler= 1
Wilson's Warbler= 1
Townsend's Warbler= 1
Oregon Junco= 31
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 3
Audubon's Warbler= 1
Mountain Chickadee= 3
Chipping Sparrow= 3
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 42
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 1
American Robin= 4
Townsend's Solitaire= 7

Total new banded= 221

Hawkwatch= 50

Hawk trapping= 5 (3 Cooper's Hawks and 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks)

Lucky Peak 9/28

Greetings,

Below are the numbers from today. Songbirds had a rockin' day!!

Songbirds

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 145
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 2
Orange-crowned Warbler= 1
Oregon Junco= 26
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 3
Audubon's Warbler= 14
Chipping Sparrow= 8
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 83
Golden-crowned Sparrow= 1
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 6
American Robin= 1
Townsend's Solitaire= 4
Cassin's Finch= 2

Total new banded=277

Hawkwatch= 156 (including 14 Northern Harriers and 31 Turkey Vultures)
Hawk trapping= 5 (4 Cooper's Hawks and 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk)

New Photos from Camas NWR songbirds

Hi Folks

Below are photos of the recent Black-and-White Warbler (9-26) and one of 2 White-throated Sparrows we've banded recently (9-25 & 9-27).

While our overall capture numbers at Camas (89 new captures today, including 37 RC Kinglets) pale in comparison to the HUGE numbers passing through at Lucky Peak (they've banded over 550 birds, including ~ 280 RC Kinglets, in the last 2 days!!), we're still seeing many birds and good diversity.

Cheers,

Jay

IBO in the news!

There is a great feature on IBO in the Idaho Statesman Outdoor section.
You can also access the article at:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/IDOUT/609280305

(yes, that one caption is wrong. It is not a Golden-crowned Sparrow being banded but a Sharp-shinned hawk)

Lucky Peak, 9/26 & 9/27

Greetings,

Below are the numbers from yesterday and today at Lucky Peak. Included are hawkbanding, hawkwatch, and owl banding totals. Songbirds had a rockin' day today with 289 birds banded. It seems that the Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the White-throated Sparrows are really moving through. This is a great week to come on up to Lucky Peak--we hope to see you up there!

Songbirds-Tuesday, 9/26
Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 50
Orange-crowned Warbler= 2
Oregon Junco= 2
Audubon's Warbler= 23
Chipping Sparrow= 10
Cassin's Vireo=2
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 31
Mountain White-crowned Sparrow= 1
Hermit Thrush= 2
Fox Sparrow= 1
Total new banded= 146

Songbirds-Wednesday, 9/27
Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 146
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 2
Townsend’s Warbler = 1
Orange-crowned Warbler= 7
Oregon Junco= 35
Audubon's Warbler= 27
Pine Siskin= 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 5
Chipping Sparrow= 5
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 61
Hermit Thrush= 2
Spotted Towhee= 1
American Robin= 1
Total new banded= 289

Owls- Tuesday night, 9/26= 7 Northern Saw-whet Owl
Total for season (since 9/22):
Northern Saw-whet Owl= 8
Flammulated Owl= 1
Northern Pygmy Owl= 1

Hawkwatch- Tuesday, 9/26 = 232
Hawkwatch- Wednesday, 9/27= 172 (including 81 Turkey Vultures)

Hawk Banding- Tuesday, 9/26= 14 (including 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Merlin)
Hawk Banding- Wednesday, 9/27= 14 (including 1 hatchyear Golden Eagle and 1 Northern Harrier)

Camas update: B&W Warbler, etc.

Here's a copy of what I recently posted to IBLE (Idaho Birders Linked Electronically). I don't have photos ready to post for the recent catches (mentioned in today's post) but I will post 2 photos of fun catches from recent weeks ..... Jay

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Hi Folks

Late this morning we captured and banded a studly adult male Black-and-White Warbler - our first this season. If I remember correctly, this date seems quite similar to when we banded an adult male last fall.

Also, we banded an immature White-throated Sparrow yesterday and over the last 2 days we've seen/heard/captured our first 'Myrtle' (Yellow-rumped) Warblers of the season. No sign of the BrownThrasher that was seen Sunday.

Lastly, with this nice fall/high pressure weather, we're experiencing a great push of migrants as the Neotropical migrants dwindle and the temperate zone migrants (especially kinglets & juncos) are building in numbers - providing impressive diversity on a daily basis. We're still catching/seeing big numbers of Wilson's Warblers (40 today, over 1650 banded for the season!!) but I expect their #s will start to decrease pretty soon here.

Cheers,

Jay

Wilson's Warblers of 2 different subspecies - 'pileolata' (Rocky Mountain race) on the left and 'pusilla' (Boreal/eastern race) on the right. Notice the paler coloration of 'pusilla'.

A young female Black-throated Blue Warbler that we banded on 9-11-06.

Anser Charter School visits LP!

This morning, Ann Moore's kindergarten class from Anser Charter School in Boise traveled up to Lucky Peak to participate in songbird banding. The morning was quite busy (128 new birds banded) with mostly Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows. Highlights were a Townsend's Warbler, Fox Sparrow, Red-naped Sapsucker, Warbling Vireo, and 2 Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Greg showing off a second year female Sharp-shinned Hawk

With this high pressure system pushing its way through this week, it is shaping up to be a stellar week for migration--both for songbirds and for raptors! Plan to come on up if you can!

Lucky Peak, 9/24/06

Migration was in full swing this weekend at Lucky Peak. Yesterday 176 songbirds were caught with the majority being Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Oregon Juncos, and White-crowned Sparrows. One Golden-crowned Sparrow was also banded.

Today, 133 new birds were banded:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 35
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 5
Orange-crowned Warbler= 3
Hammond's Flycatcher= 4
Wilson Warbler= 1
Oregon Junco= 11
Audubon's Warbler= 1
Pine Siskin= 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 1
Chipping Sparrow= 4
Cassin's Vireo= 1
White-crowned Sparrow= 56
Hermit Thrush= 2
Western Tanager= 1
Spotted Towhee= 6
American Robin= 2

In total, since July 15th, 4904 birds have been banded.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Idaho Bird Observatory's blog site! While IBO's webpage is being updated this blog will serve to inform you of the migration happenings, events, and activities that are currently taking place and those planned during the next upcoming months.

Jay and I will be updating this site as frequently as we can. We would like to highlight each day's captures, highlights and even share with you some pictures.

Fall migration is currently in full swing at both Lucky Peak and Camas NWR. Please come and visit before the season slips away.

Songbird banding will continue until October 15th from sunrise to 5 hours after sunrise both at Lucky Peak and Camas NWR. At Lucky Peak, hawkwatch and raptor trapping will run through the end of October (late morning-late afternoon). Owl banding started 2 nights ago and continues also through the end of October. The nets will open at sunset and banding will run through each night until dawn. Any visitors interested in owls should plan to arrive at Lucky Peak before dark. For all activites if the weather is unfavorable (rain, sleet, etc), banding operations will be suspended.

We look forward to seeing you this fall!

Happy birding!
-Deniz
IBO Education Director