IBO's news from the field

2011 songbird summary

2011-12-20T21:44:00.007-07:00

Here's our songbird summary for 2011 (mostly written by research director Jay Carlisle)

During the 2011 autumn migration, we captured 5,196 birds of 52 species during 4,364.5 mist-net hours. This capture rate is slightly below average and the species richness is the lowest since 1999.

The ten most commonly-captured species in 2011 were:
1. Yellow-rumped Warbler --818
2. Ruby-crowned Kinglet--639
3. Nashville Warbler --512
4. White-crowned Sparrow --499
5. MacGillivray’s Warbler --355
6. Dusky Flycatcher --292
7. Yellow Warbler --256
8. Chipping Sparrow --225
9. Spotted Towhee --182
10. Western Tanager --176

For comparison, the ten most commonly-captured species for 1997-2011 (15 seasons) combined were:
1. Ruby-crowned Kinglet --15,778
2. Dark-eyed Junco --8,462
3. White-crowned Sparrow --6,439
4. Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 4,497
5. Dusky Flycatcher --4,150
6. MacGillivray’s Warbler --3,984
7. Western Tanager --3,578
8. Spotted Towhee --3,199
9. Nashville Warbler --3,009
10. Chipping Sparrow --2,657

Thus, even though Dark-eyed Junco wasn’t in the top ten in 2011, it’s the second most frequently captured species overall (2011 was the first year ever where Juncos were not in the top ten species). 2011 was an odd weather year, starting with a cool, wet May that caused many migrants to arrive late to breeding grounds. For example, we caught our first fledgling Western Tanagers 1.5 months later than normal. With a few exceptions, it was also a relatively warm fall. Thus, maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised to have seen several unusual shifts in abundance, including record-shattering years for Nashville and Yellow-rumped Warblers juxtaposed with a record low for Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis; N = 173) and a near record low for Ruby-crowned Kinglet (one above the previous record low season of 638 in 2009). Importantly, this marks the 5th consecutive season in which we have captured less than 1,000 Ruby-crowned Kinglets after having captured 1,000 or more in 8 of the first 10 seasons.

Though overall totals were below average, we did have record-high capture totals for five species in 2011:
Yellow-rumped Warbler--818
Nashville Warbler--512
Tennessee Warbler--2
American Redstart--3
Song Sparrow--10

Besides the Tennessee Warblers and Redstarts, the only other rarity in 2011 was a Least Flycatcher.
2011 was also the first year in which we banded hummingbirds!

Fox Sparrow

Black-headed Grosbeak Family (one adult, three young)

young Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets

Wilson's Warbler

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Timberline Brewer's Sparrow

White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows

Least Flycatcher

Calliope Hummingbird wrapped up for safety while banding

Townsend's Warbler

2011-12-12T10:33:00.046-07:00

IBO e-newsletter: December 2011

This is the first official IBO e-newsletter, and hopefully the first of many to come!! Since this e-newsletter is a new endeavor for us, any comments or suggestions you may have are most welcome. jessicapollock@boisestate.edu

Highlights in this issue:

New Office

2011 Projects: Lucky Peak, Golden Eagles, Long-billed Curlews

IBO's First Annual Raptor Workshop

2012 Projects Needing Volunteers

Are you able to donate to IBO?

New Office
As most of you know, we moved into a new office space in April. After such a busy 2011 field season, we are finally getting back into "office mode" and slowly unpacking and organizing. We have new banners outside our office to showcase and attract more attention to the Idaho Bird Observatory. Our new office is located at the corner of University Dr. and Captiol Blvd...near the Quiznos Subs. Although we are still unpacking, stop by and visit us!

2011 Project Summaries

2011 was a busy field season for IBO! Our field season started March 7th and lasted until October 31st. That's an almost 8-month field season (no wonder we haven't found time to unpack in our new office yet!)! Our 2011 field work included projects researching Golden Eagles, Long-billed Curlews, Flammulated Owls, songbird point counts across northern Idaho and the Craters of the Moon National Monument, and, of course, our Lucky Peak project!

Lucky Peak

2011 marked our 19th season on the Boise Ridge! The season was a huge success due to the generous support from our donors and volunteers....thank you! We couldn't have done it without YOU! We banded over 5,000 songbirds, over 1,000 raptors, and almost 600 owls! Over 1,000 people visited us and we hosted a record 45 organized groups from around the community including school and scout groups. What a great season! A big THANKS to our 2011 crew and core volunteers: Jethro Runco, Garrett MacDonald, Morgan Parks, Blanca Jimeno, Jenna Raino, Jessica Pollock, Heidi Ware, Dave and Carol Wike, Gary Robinson, Liz Urban, Lauren Whitenack, Kerstin Beerweiler, LeRoy Fink, Genevieve Rozhon, James Butch, Ryan Mong, Erin Strasser, Rob Miller, and Lauren Lapinel. A big thanks also to our fearless leader on the mountain Jay Carlisle and our commander-in-chief Greg Kaltenecker. Way to go team! Thanks also to the Boise Co-op and Blue Sky Bagels for their generous food donations to our crew and Ed Bottum and Krista Muller at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for their support!

Golden Eagle Project

In conjunction with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the IBO crew searched across much of southern Idaho for Golden Eagles and their nests. Our surveys took us to the South Hills, the Albion, Cotterell, and Deep Creek mountains, the Bennett Hills, and beyond! Until this project, Idaho lacked basic information on the distribution, population size and nesting locations of Golden Eagles outside of the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. IDFG was interested in meeting these information needs by conducting an inventory of nesting golden eagles throughout southern Idaho. Moreover, the recent growth in renewable energy development (specifically wind turbines) in southern Idaho spurred this project since Golden Eagles are sometimes known to collide with wind turbines and/or are electrocuted by their distribution lines. The information IBO collected on this project will help land managers identify potential impact "hotspots" (i.e., near occupied nesting territories), and hopefully enable a proactive approach to evaluating potential impacts to Golden Eagles from energy development. Funding for this project came from the BLM Idaho State Office. The IBO crew located 99 Golden Eagle nests!!! Overall the project (in conjunction with IDFG and other partners) discovered or verified 168 distinct Golden Eagle territories and 384 unique nests across the entire state!!! A big thanks to the IBO Golden Eagle crew: LeRoy Fink, Genevieve Rozhon, Lindsey Keser, Dustin Maloney, Mark Pollock, Yozora Tadehara, and Jessica Pollock.

Long-billed Curlew Project
This was the third year of the Long-billed Curlew project, which is also being conducted in conjunction with IDFG. 2011 was not a good year for Long-billed Curlew numbers in our study area. Reproductive effort was very low compared to previous years. The crew found only 3 curlew nests (compared to 17 and 20 in the previous two years), and only 1 of the 3 nests was successful. Thanks to the 2011 crew members and volunteers: Morgan Parks, Alex Lamoreaux, Anna Fasoli, Heather Craig, Shaun Olson, Eddie Shea, Lauren Whitenack, Dave Wike, Alessia Cantaboni, Cheryl Huizinga, Patty McGrath, and Sandy Vistine-Amdor for all their hard work!!Long-billed Curlews are declining throughout their range and we don't know exactly why. Contributing factors may include habitat loss and degradation and/or human disturbances. Some threats may be during migration and/or on their wintering grounds. But the problem is that we don't even know where the curlews that breed in Idaho go in the winter! Our knowledge about what curlews do once they leave Idaho is extremely poor, hampering our ability to explain population declines. Basic questions about which we lack information include:

What migratory routes do curlews take to reach their wintering grounds?
When do Idaho curlews arrive on their wintering grounds, and where do they winter?
What habitats do curlews require during migration? What about in winter?
What threats are they facing on their travels between Idaho and their southerly wintering grounds?

The Long-billed Curlew is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Idaho, and is also a species of concern with the BLM, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Environment Canada. Satellite transmitters can provide valuable insights into the species' migratory routes, timings, and habitat requirements across Canada, the US, and Mexico. This information will help researchers in their efforts to conserve curlews!!

Photo: Alex Lamoreaux

Did you know?....A satellite transmitter study in Montana documented a Long-billed Curlew traveling nearly 1,250 miles in just 27 hours!!! Wow!!!

Would you be willing to sponsor a satellite transmitter and create a unique opportunity to follow the migration of your very own curlew?

Adopt a Long-billed Curlew!!!

Along with weekly blog and/or email updates about your curlew's migration progress, donors will receive a portrait of their curlew and will be recognized in our annual newsletter. In addition, full sponsors will receive a footprint cast of their bird and the opportunity to name their curlew. All donations are tax deductible. We are a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) organization. You can also support education in Idaho by requesting your donation go toward a "classroom bird" in a local school! Your donation will allow schools to name and track their own curlew in the classroom each week, while learning about ecosystem interactions, conservation, geography, migration and curlew natural history!! To sponsor a Long-billed Curlew for you or as a gift for someone else (or if you have any questions) please get in touch with Dr. Jay Carlisle at the Idaho Bird Observatory: jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu or call us at 208-426-5203.

IBO's First Raptor Identification Workshop a Success!

We hosted our first raptor ID workshop from September 23-25 and had local folks attending plus many from across the country. The workshop was a successful fundraiser for IBO and participants had a great time learning about raptors in the classroom and viewing them on migration at Lucky Peak. We are planning another raptor ID workshop for next year, and hope to provide other bird-related workshops throughout the year in the future. Do you have any ideas? Potential future workshops may include one on banding, songbird ID, etc. If you have a desire to learn something specific, will you let us know? Email jessicapollock@boisestate.edu with any workshop ideas you may have.

2012 Field Projects Needing Volunteer Support

We can always use support from volunteers eager to get some "hands-on" field experience working with birds. We have a few projects where volunteers or aspiring biologists can help us out.
- Our Long-billed Curlew project will be from mid-March - June. Anyone interested in learning how to nest search for these elusive birds is welcome to join us! The field area is northwest of Caldwell, and is an easy day trip. Email jessicapollock@boisestate.edu if you are interested.
- Our hummingbird banding project is starting up again next year, likely from June-August. We are hoping to have a site in Idaho City where there are breeding Calliope Hummingbirds. Volunteers are always needed, so if you are interested in learning how to capture hummingbirds, handle them correctly, and record important information, let us know! jessicapollock@boisestate.edu
- There is potential for volunteer support for a White-faced Ibis project in eastern Idaho from mid-April to early July 2012. If you live in eastern Idaho and can donate some time to surveying for this species contact jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu
- Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) songbird banding at Lucky Peak in June and July. Contact jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu

Are you able to Donate to the Idaho Bird Observatory?
We rely on your support - please make a tax-deductible year-end gift today. For those that don't know, the Idaho Bird Observatory is funded almost completely through grants, contracts and largely by donations from individuals like YOU!! There are two areas for which we are currently seeking funding:

Annual Fall Migration Project
We always need to secure funding for our annual fall migration project, which will continue into its 20th year next fall. Since Lucky Peak is at the core of what we do as the IBO, it's hard to imagine not being able to continue this project. We operate the Lucky Peak project efficiently and cheaply using volunteer labor and in-kind donations, but there are still some hard costs associated with this effort. We require close to $30,000 each year to maintain our standardized monitoring of songbirds, raptors, and owls during their autumn migration, and to conduct our ever-popular public education work. This funding supports a dozen full-time interns and buys necessary equipment and supplies. Please email gregorykaltenecker@boisestate.edu if you have any questions about donating to this project. Please specify "Fall Migration" in the memo line of your check to ensure donations are routed to the correct project.

Hummingbird Project
In 2011 we banded hummingbirds along the Boise River at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival property. Although hummingbird numbers were lower than expected, we had almost 200 visitors, many of which got to see hummingbirds up close and in the hand! We had many children that learned all about hummingbirds and helped us release the birds. Our goal in 2012 is to establish a hummingbird monitoring site at a higher elevation near Idaho City. We already have the site selected and know that there are many hummingbirds there, including breeding Calliope Hummingbirds, a target species of this project. We are hoping to raise close to $5,000 to run this project in 2012. This money will support a full-time biologist and will pay for necessary fuel and banding supplies. Please email jessicapollock@boisestate.edu if you have any questions about donating to this project. Please specify "Hummingbirds" in the memo line of your check to ensure donations are routed to the correct project.

The Idaho Bird Observatory is an academic research program of Boise State University, and accepts donations through its 501 (c)(3) sponsor, the Boise State University Foundation, Inc. Idaho Residents who make a donation to a state educational entity receive a 50% tax credit on that donation, and donations to the Idaho Bird Observatory qualify for this tax credit. To donate, please make checks payable to the Idaho Bird Observatory (please specify in the memo line of your check which project you are donating towards), and mail to:

Idaho Bird Observatory c/o BSU Foundation, Inc.
1910 University Dr.
Boise, ID
83706-9987

Or you can donate online through Boise State University at the link below:https://giving.universityadvancement.org/

Select "Other" as the designation and specify "Idaho Bird Observatory" in the Special Designation. Please also specify which project you are donating towards (e.g., Annual Fall Migration or Hummingbirds)

Any support you can provide will be greatly appreciated!! Your donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

Happy Holidays from the Idaho Bird Observatory!!!!!

Update from Spain #2

2011-10-26T14:24:00.009-06:00

Hi all,
Here's another update on our student exchange program in Spain, written by Micah.

Hello again from the southernmost province of Spain! After three great months our time here counting raptors has come to end. We said our goodbyes to the observatories at Cazalla and Algorrobo on Sunday, October 9^th. The passage of birds had slowed noticeably over the weeks leading up to this with less than 100 birds counted at each site on our final day. However, we had a nice showing the previous Friday in which we counted an immature Spanish Imperial Eagle, two Bonelli’s Eagles, a Lesser Spotted Eagle, Rüppel’s Vulture, a Long-legged Buzzard, a pair of Peregrines, and the season’s first Hen Harriers (a new lifer for me!!).

Short-toed and Booted eagles over Cazalla

Some of these species, specifically the Rüppel’s Vulture and Long-legged Buzzard, are African species whose presence has thought to have been increasing in the past years. However, it is also possible that these species were always present in small numbers and went relatively undetected until formal monitoring programs such as those implemented by Migres have gone into effect. To see more of what we counted this during the raptor migration this season you can visit the Migres website at www.fundacionmigres.org. Here are the overall numbers for the season for this season:

Black Kite—141,696

Black Stork—3,058

Bonelli’s Eagle—20

Booted Eagle—40,253

Cinereous Vulture—1

Common Buzzard—89

Common Kestrel—14

Egyptian Vulture—2,772

Eleonora’s Falcon—5

Golden Eagle—2

Goshawk—3

Griffon Vulture—303

Hobby—23

Honey Buzzard—64,288

Hen Harrier—1

Lanner Flacon—4

Lesser Kestrel—302

Lesser Spotted Eagle—8

Long-legged Buzzard—16

Marsh Harrier—293

Montague’s Harrier—615

Osprey—54

Peregrine Falcon—23

Red Kite—20

Ruppel’s Vulture—9

Short-toed Eagle—27,842

Spanish Imperial Eagle—4

Sparrow Hawk—2,317

White Stork—100,055

TOTAL –384,458!!!

In total, we counted 29 different species of nearly 400,000 birds! Some of the counts for birds from the sites were omitted from this data to avoid double counting. For example, we counted nearly the same number of storks at two sites, but only use data from one of these sites.

Melanistic Montague's Harrier at Cazalla

While the raptor migration has tapered off for the majority of birds, the migration of Griffon Vultures in the Strait has just begun! Each year thousands of juvenile Griffon Vultures disperse from their breeding colonies to make a temporary move to North Africa. The postnuptial autumn movements of these birds show concentrated peaks at the end of October and early November with roughly 80% of the migratory population crossing the Strait within a period of a few days. Many of these birds then spend the next several years in Africa until they reach maturity and return to their natal breeding colonies.

a Griffon Vulture with White Storks

In addition to the Griffon Vulture migration, the marine birds are also on the move. Every year there is a spectacular passage of Cory’s Shearwaters (>150,000!!!) departing the Mediterranean on their way to winter feeding grounds in the northern Atlantic. The Strait is also an important migratory pathway for many Balearic Shearwaters, Gannets, Mediterranean and Audouin’s Gulls, and Lesser Crested Terns. Our watch site is posted on the southern most point in the European continent on the Island of Tarifa.

View to Morocco from Tarifa

This small Island more recently served as a military training post until 2005 (and for thousands of years prior a watch site for invading Moors from Morocco). Now the island has been designated as a natural area and is generally closed to the public.

Sanderlings on Tarifa

kingfisher

Egret

Sea watching has been an exciting and new adventure for me. To think that many of these birds lead completely pelagic lives only coming ashore to breed is truly amazing. They impart a feeling of truly pristine nature, a wildness that your average passerine can never dream of…In addition they have also proved quite the challenge. Most of the birds are sited far off shore with distinguishing characteristics like…hmmmmm, black and white plumage? Oh yea, everything appears black and white against the distant backdrop of ocean and sky. So, out with the old field markings and in with flight style or jizz as the sea watchers call it.

Yellow-legged Gulls

Today is also Martina’s last day in the hostel. Tomorrow she leaves for Barcelona and then back to Argentina. We wish her the best and thank her for all her help and companionship she provided these past months!

A final note to students who wish to collaborate with Migres in the future, Martina and I agree that this has truly been an outstanding experience. Speaking for myself, this has been perhaps the premier field experience of my life. While my Spanish is far from perfect I have made great strides towards learning another language to which I was nearly naïve to before this trip. With that said, I believe that anyone considering this would benefit greatly from a few formal lessons before arriving. In addition, you will make your life a lot easier if you spend some time watching migrating raptors before coming. While the species are different, an eagle still looks like and eagle from a distance, as does a harrier, hawk, or falcon. So get up to Lucky Peak all ready and start volunteering!! For those interested in learning more, We would be happy to share more of my experiences with you and can be contacted at micahscholer@gmail.com and martina.zucchini@gmail.com. Thanks again to Boise State and the IBO for making this possible. In particular, Martina and I both send our thanks to Greg Kaltenecker and Dr. Bechard for their work in arranging this travel award. Hope you all can visit this outstanding migration site sometime in your life. It is one of a kind!

Happy Briding,

Micah and Martina

August totals

2011-09-07T17:13:00.006-06:00

Hi all,
Here's an update of our totals through August, plus pictures of what we've been up to lately :)

Top Ten:
1. Nashville Warbler-432 (NEW ALL TIME RECORD!! and the season's not even over yet!)
2. Audubon's Warbler-317
3. MacGillivray's Warber-284
4. Yellow Warbler-238
5. Dusky Flycatcher-216
6. Chipping Sparrow-162
7. Ruby-crowned Kinglet-104
8. Spotted Towhee-93
9. Western Tanager-73
9. Warbling Vireo-73
10. Oregon Junco-57
Three American
TOTAL-2,475

Least Flycatcher

Calliope Hummingbird

Townsend's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Jay with the Rufous Red-tail he caught

The first of now 10+ Flammulated Owls this season

The first Common Nighthawk ever caught at Lucky Peak!

Common Nighthawk

Video of a Common Nighthawk Growling :)

Boise State Students in Spain

2011-08-29T18:02:00.008-06:00

Hi all,
As some of you may know, IBO is always trying to establish contacts with people from other countries who also study migration. Both this year and last year, two Spanish students have been able to come to IBO to work on our migration project as part of an exchange program; and this year two of our own raptor grad students were able to go to Spain and see migration there!
So, here's a guest blog post from Micah and Martina with an update on their first month there:

Greetings from southern Spain! We have been working with the Migres Program for one month now to help survey for migrating raptors, storks, passerines, and marine birds as part of a student exchange program between Boise State University, the Idaho Bird Observatory, and Fundacíon Migres. The goal of the Migres Program is to monitor population changes of migratory birds in Spain and the rest of Western Europe. The migration observatories are situated on the coast of Spain looking out over the Strait of Gibraltar. Each year hundreds of thousands of soaring birds and an estimated 20-40 million songbirds pass through this area as they cross the Strait at its narrowest point (approximately 14 km) on their voyage between Europe and Africa. This makes the Straight one of the most excellent places to study the phenomenon of avian migration!

Griffon Vulture soaring over head. This species is migratory but not until the end of October. We see many each day and monitor the numbers seen so the wind farms can use this information to help mitigate collisions. Griffons are the most commonly killed soaring birds by wind turbines.

Sparrow Hawk saying "I see you too"

The Migres Program operates several observatories which are used at different times of the year. Each observatory is strategically placed to capture the majority of migrating birds for different species. Our most inland observatory, Facinas, is used to count the bulk of the White Stork migration. Approximately 71,600 Storks are counted here each year! This observatory is up and running from July 25^th to August 25^th after which the observatory of Algorrobo is utilized. At Algorrobo we are able to view the majority of migrating Honey Buzzards. Nearly all of the migratory Honey Buzzard populations pass through in just two weeks with some days having upwards of 20,000 birds flying overhead. The main observatory, Cazalla, is located near the coast and looks out of the city of Tarifa and across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Moroccan coast. The greatest diversity of raptors are counted at this site, the most common of which is the Black Kite (approximately 78,000 each year). Here is what we have counted so far from the main observatory at Cazalla…

Black Kite-104,826
Black Stork-4
Booted Eagle-316
Cinereous Vultur-1
Common Buzzard-8
Egyptian Vilutre-92
Honey Buzzard-194
Lanner Falcon-1
Lesser Kestrel-9
Lesser Spotted Eagle-1
Long-Legged Buzzard-1
Marsh Harrier-21
Montagues’s Harrier-199
Osprey-1
Peregrine Falcon-1
Red Kite-3
Ruppel’s Vulture-1
Short-Toed Eagle-625
Sparrow Hawk-11
White Stork-71,352

TOTAL- 177,667!!!!

Another 100 thousand birds were also counted at Facinas as well for a grand total of approximately 300,000 birds counted so far this season. You will notice that we have nearly surpassed the average number of storks and Black Kites counted and we still have another two months of migration yet…it has been a great year so far!!

Observatory inland (Facinas)

Main observatory of Cazalla

View from our hostel (yes, we have a swimming pool)

"the bosses" Greg Kaltenecker (IBO Director) and Dr. Marc Bechard (BSU professor)

In addition to counting soaring birds we have also had the opportunity to trap and band (or ring as they call it over here in Europe) Black Kites (Milano Negros) and passerines. Trapping raptors here is particularly difficult. When birds arrive at the Straight they are on a mission to cross and are therefore usually uninterested in food. However, when the weather is poor birds will forage along the coast. We trapped Black Kites on just such a day. There had been strong winds for two days prior and poor visibility across the Straight making it ideal conditions to bait a walk in trap for Black Kites. We had moderate success in the morning with 38 birds captured. After processing the Kites we re-opened the door to allow more Kites to enter while we took lunch. An hour later we returned to find about 150 birds inside!!! Needless to say we were busy for the next several hours banding and processing birds. We took measurements and blood from only a portion of the birds captured and released the rest after ringing them.

Walk in cage trap full of Black Kites (around 150!!!)

Black Kites waiting to be processed

Martina releasing a Black Kite after it was banded

Once every two weeks we also mist net Swallows (Golondrinas) in the natural reserve of La Janda about 40 km north of Tarifa. We attract the birds to the nets using a playback call just before dusk. This last week we were also fortunate enough to capture two Bee Eaters! Bee Eaters are another common migrant seen here traveling in flocks of 5 – perhaps 50. Stunning colors!

Micah releasing a European Swallow

Adult Bee eater being processed (juvies lack the red eye)

We hope to keep you all posted on more of our activities here as we continue to experience a different culture, learn about new birds, and participate in monitoring avian migration at one of the most important migration sites in the world. Esparamos que todos esta bien con el migratión in los estodos!!

Happy Briding,

Micah and Martina

July totals and Highlights

2011-08-25T17:43:00.003-06:00

Hi all!
sorry for not posting these sooner, but here are the totals for July.
We'll have the August totals up soon, and hopefully we will start posting daily totals on here, instead of just posting them on facebook.

736 birds total since July 16th

1. Nashville Warbler: 207
2. Chipping Sparrow: 93
3. Audubon's Warbler: 69
4. Spotted Towhee:41
5. Oregon Junco: 37
6. Dusky flycatcher: 30
7. MacGillivray's Warbler:31
8. Mountain Chickadee: 27
9. Lazuli Bunting: 26
10. Pine Siskin: 24

Highlights so far this season: 2 Brown Creepers, Gray Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, American Redstart

Summer Hummingbird Banding Schedule!

2011-07-05T11:52:00.014-06:00

Hi all!
sorry for the long hiatus on this blog...but we're up and running again!

If you have Facebook, you can like our IBO fanpage there to get more frequent updates. For those of you who don't have Facebook however, we will be posting important updates here as well...hopefully on a more regular basis! :)

Just wanted to let everyone know that IBO is doing Hummingbird Banding every 2 weeks in Boise at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Facilities (click here for map) off of Warmsprings Ave.

Black-chinned Hummingbird male (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

ALL BANDING DAYS ARE WEATHER DEPENDING so please check our IBO status updates on Facebook, or this blog the night before to make sure we don't have to cancel because of rain, etc!

We have been catching about 7-10 Black-chinned hummers a day. We found that most of our hummers are caught early (before 8AM) and we don't really catch any after about 10AM, so you might want to show up early rather than late...but who knows what it'll be like from week to week?
There will be opportunities to see and photograph the tiny hummers up close, and maybe even hold one as it is released. Its a great time for families and people of any age group :)

We are hoping that the banding dates later in the season will turn up more migrants, so there will be a chance to see more birds, and other species like Rufous or Calliope.

Here's the schedule of days so far:
We begin at sunrise, and continue for 5 hours after sunrise.
Saturday July 9th (sunrise: ~615AM)
Saturday July 23rd (sunrise: ~6:30AM)
Saturday August 6th (sunrise: ~640AM)
Saturday August 20th (sunrise: ~700AM)

We will continue scheduling banding days for as long as the hummers stick around.

If you have friends who are interested in attending hummingbird banding, you can share the link to this blog post with them: http://idahobirdobservatory.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-hummingbird-banding-schedule.html, or direct them to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/IdahoBirdObservatory

Hope to see many of you there!

a teeny hummingbird band (photo by Michelle Laskowski)

Lucky Peak Songbird Migration Totals

2009-10-16T20:57:00.008-06:00

On Thursday, October 15 we netted for songbirds for the last time in 2009 and then took the nets down. Probably due mostly to the weather, our last two days had rather lackluster totals (we captured only 21 birds each day) that were dominated by Dark-eyed Juncos. BUT, we did catch several of the fattest juncos of the season, including a male that weighed 23.1 grams (any junco weighing in @ 20g or more is definitely carrying a lot of migratory fuel but 23.1 is really fat!).

Late season 2009 songbird crew, from left: Heidi, Jay, Caroline (sweet hat!),
Nathan, and Stephanie
(we also had help from Jack & Rob earlier in the season and Gary, Erin, Micah, Randy, Dave, & Carol throughout)

In all, we captured 5,748 birds of 61 species in 2009; this marks the 5th highest season total and capture rate (5,748 birds in 4,364 mist net hours = 1.317 birds per mist net hour) in the 13 seasons so far. Thus, 2009 was a little above average ... which is still really good, especially in comparison with most other banding stations I know of that have significantly lower capture rates.

The top ten:

Dark-eyed Junco 799 (includes a single-day record 170 juncos on 10-10)
Western Tanager 697 (new season record)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 638 (lowest season-total to date)
White-crowned Sparrow 495
Dusky Flycatcher 322
Spotted Towhee 285 (2nd highest season total)
MacGillivray's Warbler 283
Yellow-rumped Warbler 226
Nashville Warbler 195
Yellow Warbler 192

We captured 3 new species in the songbird nets this year, including an American Kestrel on Aug 21 (a common migrant at the site that had never been caught in the songbird nets) as well as the much more rare Hermit Warbler on Aug 6 and an Indigo Bunting on Sept 12 (see prior blog posts for pics of these two). Other unusual species captured in 2009 included a Green-tailed Towhee on July 29, a Gray Flycatcher on Aug 2, a Yellow-breasted Chat on Aug 20, an American Redstart on Aug 27, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak on Sept 9, a Least Flycatcher on Sept 15, a White-breasted Nuthatch on Sept 26, and a Varied Thrush on Sept 29.

We set or tied season records for a number of species in 2009, including Western Tanager (n=697), Cassin's Vireo (131), Lazuli Bunting (91), Swainson's Thrush (45 - 19 better than the previous high of 26!!), 'Western' Flycatcher (22 - a tie with 2006), Black-chinned Hummingbird (16), Song Sparrow (9), and Savannah Sparrow (4). Also, though we hardly captured any compared to the # that was around, we had an amazing late fall for American Robins - hundreds were around the site for a couple weeks straight and the hawkwatchers estimated over 2,250 robins flying past on one day!

Notably absent again was Northern Pygmy-owl which we had captured at least one per season for the first 11 years and then none in 2008 or 2009 after a record season in 2007 (???). Also, though I don't see any reason for concern for most of the species that we catch (based on the raw numbers anyway; still awaiting a more rigorous analysis of population trends) and most species numbers are either stable (with some cyclic and/or inter-annual variation) or increasing, my concern for the status of Golden-crowned Kinglets continues to grow.

A trio of very cute Golden-crowned Kinglets captured together in fall 2006 - photo by Caroline Poli

Though we detected this species by their high-pitched call notes most days in September and October, we captured/banded only 11 in 2009 and this is the lowest season total yet. It could be that shifts in their feeding (i.e., maybe concentrating their feeding in the Douglas-fir trees even more than usual) could be driving this pattern but we captured at least 60 individuals from 1997-2001 and numbers have generally been much lower since (see the below Excel graph to get a sense of the trend in annual captures for GC Kinglets):

In contrast, the following Excel graph shows the annual capture rate for all songbirds combined during the same period:
As you can see, the combined total for the songbird community as a whole paints a positive picture - stable if not slightly increasing. Thus, why the apparent decrease in Golden-crowned Kinglets?? Something to look into ....

I'll post again with the final raptors #s and/or if something unusual shows up.

Cheers,

Jay

1st Annual BIG SIT @ Lucky Peak (& some Merlin action)

2009-10-11T18:42:00.010-06:00

On Sunday, Oct 11, the gung-ho hawkwatch team decided to initiate a 'Big Sit' (in which observers attempt to document as many species as possible from one vantage point) from the top of Lucky Peak. Thus, John (who'd done one in coastal New Jersey last year) was up on top by dawn listening and looking for any songbirds, owls, or anything else they might miss later in the day. During the AM, Dave, Eric, and Preston took shifts (allowing the others to eat breakfast and get ready for the hawk count to start @ 10am) on the peak.

The 2009 Lucky Peak hawkwatch crew (from left, Eric, Dave, Preston, & John) on duty counting hawks during the BIG SIT on Oct 11, 2009

The total for the day was 39 species, mostly consisting of raptors and landbirds but also including Mallards, Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gull, and Great Blue Heron that we (especially Dave) picked out along the Boise River using his 60x Swarovski scope!

A few other highlights included a couple of Merlins (coming in pretty good #s of late - see below for more info/pics), a fly-by Northern Shrike, Evening Grosbeaks, Clark's Nutcrackers, and some migrating Western Bluebirds. It was a fun thing to do and something I hope will become an annual event!

......

In other news, we've been enjoying a pretty impressive flight of Merlins in recent weeks (great for me as they're my favorite raptor!!). As an example, here are three shots of 2 immature male Merlins of different subspecies that I captured in a matter of 7 minutes yesterday (the highlight of an otherwise very slow hawk flight due the passing cold front). The first bird to come in was quite dark and might represent the 'Black' (suckleyi) subspecies whereas the second bird looks to be of the 'Prairie' (richardsonii) subspecies. What do you think?

Two immature male Merlins captured and banded on 10-10-09. Pretty strikingly different appearances: on the right is a bird of the 'Prairie' subspecies (more common further east but seems to be annual but rare in Idaho) whereas the bird on the left might represent the 'Black' subspecies (that hails from the Pacific Northwest and also seems to be a rare, annual visitor to Idaho) - photo by Brad Ware

The same 2 Merlins in reverse order - photo by Brad Ware

In this picture, note especially the tail pattern (bold white bars on the 'Prairie' vs. a predominantly dark tail on the possible 'Black') as well as the overall coloration - photo by Brad Ware

The expected subspecies in Idaho (and most of the continent) is the nominate (columbarius) subspecies, which I captured and photo'd a few weeks ago:

(for comparison) An immature female Merlin of the nominate columbarius subspecies captured on 9-17-09; note the medium brown color and the moderately distinct tail bars - photo by Holley Carlisle

A shot of the chest/undwerwing of the same columbarius individual caught on 9-17-09 - photo by Holley Carlisle

Cheers & happy birding!

Jay

Snow on Lucky Peak!

2009-10-05T15:17:00.001-06:00

On Saturday (Oct 3) afternoon, we started to get some sporadic snow flurries and, with a forecast for a lot of precipitation thru the weekend, we wondered what it would look like. Fortunately, the few hawks that were around (only 17 raptors counted all day) were pretty hungry and we were able to catch 6 birds in the trapping blind - including this snazzy adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk:

Adult (after-second-year) male Sharp-shinned Hawk captured & banded on 10-3-09

Heidi holding the stud male 'Sharpie' after finishing banding & measuring the bird

Fortunately for me, the whole songbird crew (Heidi took the picture) came down to the blind to keep me company/warm - from left, clockwise - Caroline, Stephanie, Jay, & Nathan - and got to enjoy a couple of the hawks

At around 530pm, a big cloud moved in to envelope the mountain and we closed up shop for the day in favor of some warm soup (care of Caroline) and games inside the trailer. At 8pm, some big snowflakes started falling and we got an inch or so last night (I took a very enjoyable but wet walk in the snow before bed!). Then, at round 6 this morning, the snow began again and we had 3" or so by the time I headed down to Boise (since all the songbird nets were completely covered in snow and there was no way to safely run nets in this weather).

Most of the songbird & hawk crews, including Preston, John, Caroline, Nathan, Stephanie, Heidi, & Dave (with a snowflake blocking his face - sorry!), standing outside the trailer enjoying the snow

This makes two straight years that we've received significant snow in October. I'll admit that I was whining about the high 80s/low 90s weather that dominated for most of September and was wishing for fall weather but this was a little extreme ;-). Now I'm looking forward to the weather clearing up so we can start counting/catching some migrants again!

Before the snow came, here's a Mountain Chickadee gauging the situation before flying off again

Cheers,

Jay

Matt catches a Golden Eagle!

2009-10-04T17:17:00.000-06:00

So Matt was due...

Last year in mid-Sept Matt was trapping when a Golden Eagle landed on the pigeon but when he went to pull the trigger for the trap, it didn't go b/c it had been set wrong by a visiting trapper. Thus, Matt had to chase the eagle off the pigeon (no other way to catch it at this point) and lose 'his' first catch of a Golden (something all hawk-trappers hope will eventually happen - I'm still waiting ;-).

Thus, I was very psyched for Matt when I got his text/picture message rubbing it in when he caught the bird on a very windy Wednesday (I was off the mountain at this point) b/c if anyone was gonna catch a Golden this year, Matt deserved it.

Look at the size of this bird!!! - a probable second-year (one-year-old) Golden Eagle captured and banded @ Lucky Peak on Wed, Sept 30

Congratulations Matt! ... and let's hope that now that it has a uniquely-numbered band, one day this bird is recovered somewhere else to help us learn more about Golden Eagle movements (see this link to get a sense for where the raptors we've caught/banded have come from/gone to).

End of September update

2009-10-02T15:47:00.006-06:00

Figured I'd provide an update on happenings up on Lucky Peak since September just drew to a close. The recent cold front slowed things down a bit over the last few days but, as you can see from the numbers below, it's been a really good season so far ...

Totals thru September 30:

Raptors 6,992 migrants of 15 species - this is already the 3rd highest season total and we have all of October ahead of us!!!

Top Five:

Turkey Vulture 1,456
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1,435
American Kestrel 1,330
Cooper's Hawk 1,217
Red-tailed Hawk 735

... and we've set season-records for three species:

Swainson's Hawk 177
Osprey 115
Broad-winged Hawk 84 (more than double the prior season-high of 37!!)

Caroline Poli (veteran/star songbird migration researcher) with an immature Broad-winged Hawk that she captured on Sept 22, 2009 - photo by Nathan Banfield

Closer view of the same immature Broad-winged Hawk captured on Sept 22, 2009 - photo by Nathan Banfield

Owls 59 owl captures

Northern Saw-whet Owl 31 (just getting warmed up)
Flammulated Owl 26 (3rd best season total!)
Long-eared Owl: 2

Golden Eagle Audubon Society field trip to see owls at Lucky Peak on October 10

Songbirds 4,714 captures of 61 species

Top Ten:

Western Tanager 697
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 518
White-crowned Sparrow 421
Dusky Flycatcher 321
MacGillivray's Warbler 283
Spotted Towhee 275
Yellow-rumped Warbler 225
Nashville Warbler 195
Yellow Warbler 192
Chipping Sparrow 162

recent highlights:

Varied Thrush (2nd ever capture) on 9-29
White-breasted Nuthatch (2nd ever capture) on 9-26
a season record 45 Swainson's Thrushes (previous high of 26)

On Sept 1, we captured our last 2 Brewer's Sparrows of the season and the first of the day was especially well-marked which made us think of the 'Timberline' subspecies that breeds at high elevation areas from Montana north through the Canadian Rockies. Thus, we took pics of each bird & I put the best here (the potential Timberline wasn't especially photogenic but I think you can see the difference) ...

A Brewer's Sparrow - maybe of the Timberline subspecies due to the more distinct markings, slightly darker coloration, and darker upper mandible - captured on Sept 1 - photo by Nathan Banfield

A more typical Brewer's Sparrow with less distinct markings and paler coloration captured on Sept 1 - photo by Nathan Banfield

On the subject of sparrows, here are two immature White-crowned Sparrows of different subspecies - 'Mountain' (oreantha) on the left and 'Gambel's' (gambeli) on the right. Notice the pinker bill and darker lores of the 'Mountain' bird - photo by Nathan Banfield

Here's the second-ever capture of Least Flycatcher at Lucky Peak (9-15-09) - photo by Nathan Banfield

Lucky Peak fall migration update

2009-09-22T13:11:00.004-06:00

With many apologies for not posting sooner, here's an update on the migration happenings up at Lucky Peak. It's been a great start to the season and the best few weeks are ahead of us (see below for info on two upcoming Audubon Society field trips) so we hope to see as many visitors/bird fans as possible!

In particular, 2009 has been great for the diurnal raptors - both as far as the numbers we're counting and the numbers we're catching and banding - with numbers much higher than in recent years. As one example of a less common species, the hawkwatch crew counted 31 Broad-winged Hawks yesterday (Sept 21), including a kettle of 21 individuals. That daily total exceeds the season totals for all but two prior seasons!! Meanwhile, we haven't banded any Gyrfalcons yet but we have been getting really big numbers of especially Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks and American Kestrels. We've also started to see and catch a few Merlins in the last couple weeks and we're hoping that some Northern Goshawks will start appearing with more frequency in the coming days.

Here's a shot of me holding an immature female Merlin (columbarius subspecies), my best catch of the day last Thursday when MY MOM WAS IN THE BLIND WITH ME!! b/c this is my favorite raptor - photo by Holley Carlisle

Totals thru September 20:

Raptors 4,029 migrants of 15 species

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1,002
American Kestrel 870
Cooper's Hawk 842
Red-tailed Hawk 502
Turkey Vulture 408

Owls 35 owl captures so far (and Saw-whets are just getting started)

Flammulated Owl: 20 (3rd best season total!)
Northern Saw-whet Owl: 14
Long-eared Owl: 1

Songbirds 3,845 captures of 56 species, several highlights include:

a record 40+ Swainson's Thrushes (previous high of 26)
adult female Rose-breasted Grosbeak captured on Sept 9
immature female Chestnut-sided Warbler seen well by many observers on Sept 10 - found by visiting birder Ron Martin of North Dakota (attending the Western Field Ornithologist's conference that BSU & IBO hosted) - it was a lifer for a couple crewmembers/volunteers!
adult female Indigo Bunting captured on Sept 12 - our first ever @ Lucky Peak
immature Least Flycatcher captured on Sept 15 - our 2nd capture of this species

Adult female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (left) that was captured in the same net with this immature male Black-headed Grosbeak (right) on Sept 9, 2009 - photo by Caroline Poli

Adult female Indigo Bunting captured at Lucky Peak on Sept 12, 2009 ... the 1st we've ever seen or captured at the site! - photo by Stephanie Coates

Upcoming Golden Eagle Audubon Society field trips to IBO (see GEAS site for details):

Sat. Sept. 26, 8:30am – GEAS trip to Idaho Bird Observatory, Raptor Watch

Sat. Oct. 10, 6pm – GEAS trip to Idaho Bird Observatory, Owl Banding

Cheers,

Jay

Hermit Warbler!!

2009-08-09T13:33:00.001-06:00

On Thurs Aug 6 (the morning after preparing the last post) a new species for the Lucky Peak nets arrived on this massive storm that came in from the NW - an immature female Hermit Warbler!

Here's a side view of an apparent immature female Hermit Warbler - photo by Heidi Ware

The concern is the potential for hybridization with the closely-related Townsend's Warbler but, though I've sent it to some experienced birders for their input, I think it looks like a 'pure' Hermit.

Hermit Warbler, though its breeding range is relatively close (principally the coastal ranges of CA, OR, and southwestern WA), is decidedly rare in Idaho with only 2 prior accepted records of the species. But, there were 2 sight reports in early May of this year, both in SW Idaho, pending review. One of the accepted records was a sight record by 7 of us up at Lucky Peak on Aug 14, 2002 - also an immature female. At the time, I was pretty excited to see that one (and glad it didn't get caught since it was my first in Idaho ;-) but it was pretty cool to catch this one and get to check her out close-up.

The underside of the bird ... (by Heidi Ware)

Another side view

The bird was in very good condition (big fat and big muscle) and, if it didn't leave due to the rain last night, will likely keep moving at the first opportunity.

Cheers,

Jay

The 2009 migration season begins!

2009-08-06T01:29:00.000-06:00

After winding up various summer field studies (including Long-billed Curlews, Flammulated Owls, and songbird counts all over south-central Idaho, we began our annual Lucky Peak fall songbird (and hummingbirds/woodpeckers too) migration study on July 16. On day 1, we captured 114 new birds plus 16 'recaptures' (birds already wearing bands - all placed there by us in this case) and were thus off to the races. We haven't equaled that total since but we've managed to keep 4 to 5 of us quite busy most days.

As usual, we have a great crew of full-time field assistants and part-time volunteers and here's a great example:

The crew on Wed, July 29 (includes several dedicated volunteers), from left: Gary, Dave, Carol, Heidi, Rob, Stephanie, Jack, Melody, and Jay

From July 16 to July 31, we captured 1,049 individuals of 31 different species. The top ten most abundant species were:

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon' subspecies): 129
Dusky Flycatcher: 110
MacGillivray's Warbler: 100
Yellow Warbler: 88
Nashville Warbler: 79
Chipping Sparrow: 71
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 64
Lazuli Bunting: 53
Spotted Towhee: 42
Hammond's Flycatcher: 39

#11 on the abundance ranking is the Calliope Hummingbird, with 38 individuals captured in July - already the 3rd highest season total in 13 seasons of this study! We've also captured a record 13 Black-chinned Hummingbirds so far (5 of them since July 31) and this represents our highest season total to date. Thus, it seems its been a good year for the nectarivores!

Up close and personal with an immature male Calliope Hummingbird

Other highlights so far include a juvenile-plumaged Green-tailed Towhee on July 29th - only the 5th we've ever captured at Lucky Peak (too sneaky for a photo ;-).

As usual, the bulk of early-season captures include locally-dispersing juveniles and some molting adults but we've also had a slow but steady push of southward migrants all along, especially including the hummingbirds plus adults of Dusky Flycatchers, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and Warbling Vireos.

4 juvenile Dusky Flycatchers (all caught in the same net) on their way back to their capture location - photo by Heidi Ware

Then, during the first few days of August, we started to catch the 2nd wave of migrants, including our first 'Western' Flycatcher and Wilson's Warbler on Aug 1, Gray Flycatcher and Western Wood-pewee on Aug 2, and Townsend's Warbler on Aug 3. Also, in the last few days, immature Yellow Warblers (usually our earliest warbler to push southward) have started putting on big fat stores (migratory fuel)!

Adult 'Western' Flycatcher (likely Cordilleran by range) - photo by Jack Stenger

Adult Gray Flycatcher

Immature Western Wood-pewee

We usually experience a bit of a lull in #s during early August (but still great diversity) as the dispersing young birds molt their body plumage and adults of many species continue molting flight feathers in prep for migration. Then, more species will begin migrating in earnest over the next couple of weeks. Then the raptor excitement begins in late August when we begin hawk counts on Aug 25 and owl netting on Aug 28.

Golden Eagle Audubon has a field trip planned for Sat, Aug 15 and this would be a great time to see many colorful birds up close!

Cheers & happy fall!

Jay

Snake River Birds of Prey Festival in Kuna-May 15-17

2009-05-04T15:19:00.004-06:00

Join IBO at the first annual Snake River Birds of Prey Festival in Kuna, May 15-17. On Saturday morning, May 16th, Jay et al will be banding songbirds at Celebration Park.

Lectures as well as field trips (including a field trip to band nestling western screech owls or ferruginous hawks!) will be offered throughout the weekend.

Visit: http://www.snakeriverbirdsofpreyfestival.com/ for more information and how to register.

Long-billed Curlews are returning!

2009-03-24T15:04:00.005-06:00

'And, why does this matter to IBO?', you might ask. Because, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG; http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/), IBO will be launching a couple of new studies in 2009 with the goal of building a long-term partnership with IDFG to cooperatively study bird species that are considered especially sensitive in the state (http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/cwcs/index.cfm?category=5). Thus, in 2009 our focal species will be Long-billed Curlew and Flammulated Owl.

Long-billed Curlew - photo by Mike Baird
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/323625972/)

Long-billed Curlews (http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/tech/CDC/cwcs_appf/Long-billed%20Curlew.pdf) nest in grasslands throughout the central and western US. An area of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land roughly bordered by Emmett, Middleton, Parma, and Sand Hollow in SW Idaho has historically hosted one of the densest breeding populations in the state and this is where we'll be working. I'm excited to get a chance to work (scientifically, that is) with a new species!! Field work is set to begin in April and we may be seeking volunteers so keep in touch if interested.

Flammulated Owl - photo by Greg Lasley
(http://www.greglasley.net/Images/Flammulated-Owl-0010.jpg)

Flammulated Owls (http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/tech/CDC/cwcs_appf/Flammulated%20Owl.pdf) nest in coniferous (mostly Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir) and aspen forests throughout the western US and parts of Mexico. They are a neotropical migrant (winter range largely in the New World tropics; in this case, pine and pine-oak forests of Mexico and northern Central America) that typically arrives to the state in early May and departs in September or early October. We've studied this species at Lucky Peak during fall migration for a decade but this will be our first opportunity to study these birds during the breeding season. Partly because of its nocturnal habits and possibly also its vocal similarity with the larger Long-eared Owl, relatively little was known about this species & its distribution until the last 30+ years and there's still much to be learned - including population status. We're working together with IDFG to develop a long-term monitoring program for this species and 2009 will be a pilot year. Survey areas are yet to be determined but field work will begin in mid-May.

Cheers,

Jay

Birding Competition between IBOers ;-)

2009-03-24T13:46:00.001-06:00

Back in January, Heidi (new IBO volunteer in 2008 who's quickly become a birding fanatic) and I decided to each keep track of how many bird species we see in Idaho in 2009 and pretty soon we got carried away, made it into a (mostly ;-) light-hearted competition, and decided to create a blog. It's been going for about a month but I keep forgetting to post a link to it here on the IBO blog - so here it is finally:

http://heidiversusjay.blogspot.com/

In addition to birding a lot of areas I haven't often (or ever) birded and/or at different times of year, we're also endeavoring to bird with as many Idaho (or visiting) birders as we can and we've done pretty well so far and enjoyed it! If interested, please check it out (and maybe add it to the list of blogs you follow) and you'll see that we've spent far too much time checking out gulls (including an adult Iceland Gull we found!) but we've also seen a bunch of other cool birds, including a male Black-throated Blue Warbler that showed up in Boise for a couple days in Feb (!) as well as the many great birds that occur regularly in Idaho, and many great areas - like the Snake River canyon.

Enjoy & happy birding!

Jay

2008 Hawk & Owl season totals

2008-11-05T16:14:00.004-07:00

(Thanks to Kyle for pulling this info together & authoring this post ....)

Hey all,

Just a quick sum up of the 2008 hawkwatch and owl banding programs, which ended on the 31^st and 28^th of October respectively. For those of you who just want the numbers, they are found at the end of this post.

The hawkwatching season ended on a pretty slow note, with daily totals for 9 of the last 21 days of the count in the single digits, and a peak daily flight in that 3 week period of only 32 birds. While the overall numbers for the count were less than 100 birds shy of the long term average, a majority of these birds were Turkey Vultures. In fact, Turkey Vultures had a record breaking year in 2008, with the total of 2069 of the large, dark birds counted being almost double their long term average at the site. The other four species that normally compose the bulk of the count (Red-tailed Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and American Kestrel) were all well below their historical averages. It should be noted that the 2008 Kestrel total of 821 individuals is a huge rebound from the past two years when the species’ numbers did not break 600, and the 2008 Kestrel count is about 80 birds above the average for the five year period from 2004-2008 for the site, all good signs for the small falcon that has conservationists so concerned.

While those species that are usually most common at Lucky Peak had a poor year, it was a decent year for ‘glamour’ birds. 2008 saw Lucky Peak’s second highest count of Golden Eagles (72), the third highest counts for Broad-winged (28) and Rough-legged Hawks (8), and the fourth highest count of Swainson’s Hawks (93). The glamour bird that did not keep with this trend was the Northern Goshawk, with only 12 of the large Accipiters headed south past Lucky Peak, well below the previous low count for the species of 22 and even further below the 14 year average of 41.

An adult, light Broad-winged Hawk photographed on 9-15-08 by Jake Schas.

Of course, the counters were able to add a new species to the count, the hatch-year Gyrfalcon who flew southwest after being trapped on October 11^th, but the number of species counted this year remains the same 18 that it is in most years, with Ferruginous Hawks being completely missed. While Lucky Peak counts for this Buteo have never topped 6 individuals per season, 2008 was only the third year in which the species was missed entirely.

While the hawk flight was a mixed bag in 2008, the owl banders had a stellar year. A new record for Flammulated Owls was set with the 62 birds captured besting the previous high for the site by 11 individuals. Northern Saw-whet Owls also had a good year, with the total of 178 new Saw-whets banded being second highest in numbers only to 1999’s irruption year (when 848 were banded). Two other owl species were captured and banded in 2008: a single Western Screech-owl and two Long-eared Owls. Great-horned Owls were also heard on most evenings, and while this was the first year in IBO’s history where Northern Pygmy Owls were not caught in either owl or songbird nets, a handful of the little predators were heard on various occasions throughout the latter part of the season.

A Flammulated Owl (after being banded); photographed on 9-4-08 by Kaia Colestock.

Okay, so as promised, here are the 2008 raptor numbers:

Migrating raptors seen on Hawkwatch in 491.5 hours of observation between 25 August and 31 October, 2008:

Turkey Vulture – 2069
Bald Eagle – 7
Osprey – 54
Northern Harrier – 170
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 914
Cooper’s Hawk – 532
Northern Goshawk – 12
Red-shouldered Hawk – 1
Rough-legged Hawk – 8
Broad-winged Hawk – 28
Swainson’s Hawk – 93
Red-tailed Hawk – 760
Golden Eagle – 72
American Kestrel – 821
Merlin – 32
Peregrine Falcon – 6
Prairie Flacon – 6
Gyrfalcon – 1
Total – 5844

(for those of you doing the math, the overall total included a number of unidentified raptors)

Owls Banded at Lucky Peak between 28 August and 28 October, 2008:

Flammulated Owl – 62
Northern Saw-whet Owl – 178
Long-eared Owl – 2
Western Screech-owl – 1

Thanks for an awesome season to all who helped with all projects at Lucky Peak, and be sure to head up the hill next year for more fun and excitement while observing fall migration!

Kyle Wright

Songbird season totals (& raptor update)

2008-10-19T20:46:00.006-06:00

We finished up the songbird migration season on Wednesday, October 15 and I just finished tallying up the #s. We captured a total of 5,158 birds of 56 species. Though this is certainly an impressive number, it's actually our lowest capture total since 2003 and the capture rate (birds per netting effort) is a bit lower than the long-term average. Much of this can be attributed to lower-than-average seasons for Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Dark-eyed Junco - our two most frequently-captured species over the duration of the migration study. On the other hand, we experienced a HUGE year for Yellow-rumped Warblers (more than double the long-term average and, by far, a new record) that included a record 9 of the 'Myrtle' subspecies (we had never caught more than 2 in a season before!).

Our top ten were:

1) Ruby-crowned Kinglet 797
2) Yellow-rumped Warbler 632
3) White-crowned Sparrow 458
4) Dark-eyed Junco 334
5) MacGillivray's Warbler 274
6) Dusky Flycatcher 254
6) Nashville Warbler 254
8) Western Tanager 253
9) Chipping Sparrow 245
10) Yellow Warbler 221

The only new species to grace our nets this year was a Varied Thrush captured on October 13. This is a species that I observe one or a few of in most years at Lucky Peak during late September and/or early October but we just hadn't caught one before. Given that Varied Thrushes are known to consume fruit and our nets are placed among fruiting shrubs, I've been a little surprised to have not caught one yet. On the other hand, our nets are more designed for the smaller songbirds and many robin-sized birds likely escape ....

Immature male Varied Thrush (photo by Kaia Colestock)

Other highlights from the season included a Blackburnian Warbler (Sept 2 - our 3rd ever at Lucky Peak and a 6th state record), an American Redstart (Sept 14), a Magnolia Warbler (Sept 21 - only our second at Lucky Peak), 2 Golden-crowned Sparrows, and 2 Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (only the 2nd & 3rd we've ever caught).

On October 9 we captured our second Savannah Sparrow of the season (and only our 9th in 12 years - see below). It looks like one of the darkest subspecies and, in some ways, resembles a Lincoln's Sparrow.

Savannah Sparrow on 10-9-08 (photo by Mike McDonald)

In contrast, check out the Savannah Sparrow we captured on 9-18-08 (photo by Jake Schas) - note that the lighting is different in each photo but, notwithstanding, there is a noticeable difference in coloration (& if you click on each photo, you can get a better look at each bird)

In other news, the diurnal raptor flight has really slowed down since the big storm of Oct 10-11. Even though the raptor #s tend to be lower from Oct 10 on in each season, we usually see some decent flights (50-100 birds/day) on good weather days and the numbers this year are much lower than usual for this time of year. That said, this is the time of year when we see some 'sexy' species or subspecies including Rough-legged Hawks, Harlan's race of Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Goshawk, and Merlin.

The owl crew is still catching a handful of Northern Saw-whet Owls and we did have a record year for Flammulated Owls (at least 60).

I will post final tallies for the raptors after the season finishes on Oct 31.

Cheers,

Jay

GYRFALCON!!

2008-10-11T21:09:00.003-06:00

My apologies for the long delay between posts ... migration has continued in full swing for songbirds, owls, and hawks and I'll try to post more details soon.

BUT, the big news is that today during hawk-trapping, I was fortunate enough to capture and band an immature gray phase Gyrfalcon at Lucky Peak. This is the first we have ever seen or captured during the 14+ seasons of raptor monitoring in the Boise Foothills. Thus, it was a pretty special experience to watch the bird for a few minutes as it worked through the trapping station before finally getting captured! The early date is also amazing as it seems that late October/early November are when migrants tend to arrive to this region. Presumably the strong cold front (see snow in background) has something to do with it.

The bird was in fantastic shape (weighed over 1600 grams) and was last seen flying W over Boise so keep your eyes peeled!

In other news, winter finches are around in big #s - esp. including Evening Grosbeaks and, lately, Red Crossbills. There have even been a couple sightings of apparent Common Redpolls (seems early too) that I have yet to see or hear ... hopefully soon.

OK, more soon ... enjoy the few pics below .... (in case you're wondering, the blood on my finger is mine - not the bird's - from where it punctured my finger with it's very sharp bill!).

Cheers,

Jay

HUGE raptor flight at Lucky Peak today!

2008-09-26T21:38:00.000-06:00

Kyle left me a message saying that the hawkwatchers counted 895 raptors and vultures heading S past Lucky Peak today!! If my memory serves correctly, this is a 1-day record for the site and this makes close to 2000 counted in the last 4 days! Highlights from today included ~650 Turkey Vultures and 5 Broad-winged Hawks (including a dark-morph adult).

With a long stretch of nice weather forecasted, it will be interesting to see if these great flights continue!

Cheers,
Jay

Lucky Peak migration update & Magnolia Warbler

2008-09-26T16:57:00.003-06:00

Hi Folks

We've had a run of busy days since last weekend's storm front. In particular, yesterday (Thurs, Sep 25) was likely the biggest combined songbird & raptor movement of the season. In addition to hundreds of raptors and Turkey Vultures, the hawkwatchers estimated 600+ American Robins as well as numerous finches (including increasing numbers of Evening Grosbeaks and Cassin's Finches), swallows, bluebirds, etc. Our songbird captures were dominated by Yellow-rumped Warblers (including one of the 'Myrtle' subspecies - Harry Krueger also saw a Myrtle at Kathryn Albertson Park in Boise yesterday) as well as RC Kinglets and WC Sparrows. A single Golden-crowned Sparrow was seen today.

This late Sept/early Oct period is often characterized by great raptor diversity (with maybe a chance for the season's last Broad-winged Hawk or a rare Red-shouldered as well as increasing chances of seeing Merlins and N Goshawks) and the highest songbird abundance of the season. This has also been a time in which we sometimes see/hear Blue Jays, Varied Thrushes, and other rarer visitors.

Thus, while it's great up there all season, the next 10 days or so (weather pending) are some of the best days to enjoy migration at Lucky Peak.

Also, we captured a rare Magnolia Warbler on Sunday, Sept 21 - this was our 2nd in 12 years of work at Lucky Peak (though I gather it occurs a little more frequently in E Idaho - esp. at migrant traps like Camas NWR). The below picture is not great (I'm not a photographer by trade ;-) but other folks took much better shots.

Cheers,

Jay

IBO publications on our website

2008-09-03T14:19:00.002-06:00

For anyone (whether you've visited Lucky Peak or not) with an interest in some of the details of bird migration and the research we've conducted, I encourage you to visit the 'publications' page of our website:

http://idahobirdobservatory.org/publications.html

All are available as PDF files and we've recently added a few new ones, including:

(1) final (annual) reports from our Lucky Peak and Camas NWR projects,
(2) a link to an Alaska Bird Observatory newsletter article discussing a bird banded in Denali NP that we captured at Camas NWR, and
(3) several new journal articles (use the 'More' link at the bottom of the page to access more journal articles)

As a timely example, we've recently added an article published in 2007 entitled, "Status of Broad-winged (Buteo platypterus) and Red-shouldered Hawks (B. lineatus) during autumn migration in southwestern Idaho, 1995-2006." This article includes photos and a table showing timing of all Broad-winged Hawk sightings at Lucky Peak over a 12-year period.

Of course, nothing beats seeing the migration spectacle in person but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some of the written fruits of our efforts.

Thanks,

Jay

Blackburnian Warbler 9-2-08

2008-09-03T14:07:00.004-06:00

On our closing net run on Tuesday, Sept 2, we captured an immature Blackburnian Warbler! Here are 4 pictures of the bird (click on photos for enlarged versions/greater detail):

For comparison, here's a shot of an immature female Townsend's Warbler (taken by Bob Whitlach in 2007):

Key features that helped in the ID of the Blackburnian (especially in separation from Townsend's Warblers which have similar patterning but different colors) include:

- brownish-gray cast to upperparts and head (greenish on Townsend's)

- orangy-yellow on chest and facial stripes (more pure yellow on
Townsend's)

- slight hint of a pale central crown stripe (seen on picture #4)

According to the list on idahobirds.net, it looks like this is the 6th report for this species in the state. This is the 3rd we have captured at Lucky Peak: 9-2-01 (1st state record), 9-7-05, and 9-2-08. Thus, looks like a pretty tight window in early Sept (similar to when we have captured some other eastern/northern vagrant warblers).

We also captured our first White-crowned Sparrow and Cedar Waxwing of the season yesterday - thus, 3 new species for the season in one day!

Cheers,

Jay

Songbird Migration mid-season update (Lucky Peak)

2008-09-03T13:36:00.003-06:00

Hi Folks

On Sunday evening I added up the season totals for our songbird captures through Aug 31 - which is the mid-point of our season.

Totals so far (July 16 through Aug 31):

2487 birds of 43 species

TOP TEN:
1) Nashville Warbler 240
2) MacGillivray's Warbler 234
3) Dusky Flycatcher 228
4) Yellow Warbler 212 (2nd best season-total; after record year in 2007)
5) "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler 193
5) Western Tanager 193
7) Chipping Sparrow 182
8) Ruby-crowned Kinglet 151
9) Spotted Towhee 121
10) Pine Siskin 102

HIGHLIGHTS:
Willow Flycatcher (2)
Gray Flycatcher (2)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (2)

In sum, after a slow start, it actually was a pretty impressive 1st half of the season (better than average). The 2008 totals are ~ 400 birds & 9 species fewer than at the same point of the 2007 season (see my blog post from 9-2-07) but still some good numbers of many species. And, I expect the diversity will climb as we head into September.

A few pics:

An adult female Wilson's Warbler - note the pretty extensive crown patch but with a lot of green/yellow feather tips.

An immature male Wilson's Warbler - note the similarly extensive crown patch that is glossier black (than the adult female above) and has the green/yellow feather tips mostly confined to the rear of the crown.

An immature Dusky Flycatcher - note the greenish back, greenish-gray head, moderate-sized bill, and relatively short wing extension.

Cheers,

Jay

Golden Eagle Audubon visits IBO (8-9-08)

2008-08-15T17:00:00.005-06:00

This last Saturday a contingent (19 strong) of GEAS came on a field trip to view the songbird migration banding at Lucky Peak. I was traveling back from the conference in Portland that day and was bumbed to miss some great folks but I gather that everyone enjoyed the visit and Gary Robinson was kind enough to get some photos for me. I always enjoy these trips because many good questions are always asked and it's nice to catch up with some great local birders. See you next time!

GEAS folks look on as Heidi & Heriberto process birds.

Here's Bruce (center) detailing something ;-) - maybe he's explaining how bird skulls ossify!

Heriberto (left) & Heidi probably discussing the finer points of Empidonax flycatcher identification as the crowd looks on.

Two Pine Siskins that are banded, measured, & weighed and ready to return to their lives.

A young male Black-headed Grosbeak is nearing freedom ....

"Adios amigos!"

2008 Cooper Ornithological Society/ American Ornithologist's Union/Society of Canadian Ornithologist's meeting

2008-08-09T18:00:00.006-06:00

I returned to Boise 1.5 hours ago from the 2008 joint conference of three ornithological societies (Cooper Ornithological Society, American Ornithologist's Union, and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists) that took place in Portland, OR. It was an exciting meeting with over 900 attendees .....

Many of the banquet attendees for the 2008 conference ... lots of bird-nerds!

There were many great presentations but one of the main highlights for me was that as I stood up to give my presentation (comparing stopover ecology and capture heights of birds between Lucky Peak & Camas NWR), I could see 6 former IBO field assistants in the crowd (& 2 others were also at the conference)! All cool people & it was rewarding to hear about their research, etc. I was able to catch 5 of them on film (unfortunately, I didn't come up with the photo idea until the final afternoon and several folks couldn't be found among the hordes of ornithologists):

Catalina Londoño and Gabriel Colorado (both from Colombia). Gabriel worked at Lucky Peak in 1999 and then both Cata and Gabriel were at Lucky Peak for a couple weeks in 2003. Gabriel is now studying Cerulean Warblers for his PhD at Ohio State University and Cata is about to begin a Fulbright scholarship supported PhD in Environmental Economics at Illinois (Champaign-Urbana).

Zoltan Nemeth (left, from Hungary) alongside some colleagues (Jen Owen, Emily Cohen, and Kristina Paxton) affiliated with the Migratory Bird Research Group at U of Southern Mississippi. Zoltan worked with us in the summer & fall of 2000 (and we hadn't seen each other since!). He's married & about to complete his PhD with Frank Moore studying social behavior of migrating birds. (Also, I worked for Jen 10 years ago on a spring migration study in Louisiana!!)

Khara Strum (left, sitting with Susan Skagen of USGS in Colorado) is from Ohio and just finished her Masters at Kansas State where she studied pesticide exposure for migrating and wintering shorebirds. Khara worked at IBO in 2003 & 2004.

Michelle Labbe and Scott Kimball. Michelle worked with me at Camas NWR in 2005 and is about to finish her Masters at UMass where she studies the post-breeding ecology of migratory birds. Scott is a former BSU raptor biology student who's about to finish his PhD at Ohio State.

Needless to say, it was a lot of fun to see all these folks (along with Dan Battaglia, Dale Gentry, and Jeremy Russell -not shown) and catch up!

Cheers,

Jay

Summer/Early Fall Banding Results (so far)

2008-08-09T17:26:00.005-06:00

Greetings IBO blog-readers (anyone still out there after the loooong gap between posts??)

After a busy summer and some training of a new (& stellar) crew for our fall migration season, I'm aiming to get back on the ball and post at least somewhat regularly ....

We had a late start to the breeding season up at Lucky Peak - likely due to the cool weather in late May/early June that stalled all those Western Tanagers in the valley areas - and we've seen the impact during our breeding season banding (early June to early July). Normally we see fledglings by late June and the pulse of young birds didn't really begin until well into June. So far it appears that birds that arrived before the cool spring weather (such as Nashville Warblers) were able to breed "on time" whereas late arrivers such as Western Tanagers, Warbling Vireos, and MacGillivray's Warblers were delayed by up to a couple weeks in their breeding efforts. Thus, not sure if their delayed spring arrival will impact their reproductive success and/or their fall departure timing ....

Here's a shot of our large group of volunteers that came up for our June 26 summer banding day, including (from back left): Kathl, Gary, Ruth (visiting from UT), Jody, Mike (visiting from Portland), Heidi, & (front row, from left) Dave, Greg, Deniz, Ayla, Carol, & Sylvia.

Our fall migration season began on July 16th and we've had a great start so far. Not as busy bird-wise as the last 2 seasons (likely due to the reproduction delays mentioned above) but we once again have a great crew (see below; Marissa just arrived a few days ago so we'll get a new team shot soon ...). We've already enjoyed several visitors (including Golden Eagle Audubon Society today) and we're looking forward to more!

Early-season team shot: (from left) Heriberto, Kris, Gary, Jay, & Heidi
Heriberto is from Jalisco, Mexico (and has worked with many of the same species on the wintering grounds for many years), Kris is from southern California (and is a long-time birder & Audubon member), Gary (Mountain Home) is in his 5th year of volunteering on our project, and Heidi is an undergrad at Boise State U. who's been hooked on birds for years already.

Katie Babcock & campers from the Tumble Time program during a June 17 field trip.

recovery information for a Willow Flycatcher(!!)

2007-11-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks

We just received news that a Willow Flycatcher (band # 2460-68120; pictured below aside a Hammond's Flycatcher) that we captured on August 9, 2007 at our Lucky Peak fall migration station was originally banded by a colleague with the Utah DNR on August 25, 2006 in Hailstone, UT!! At least 250 miles as the crow flies ....

The bird is a 1-year-old female (hatched in 2006) - based on molt limits (not having replaced all feathers in the wing - a characteristic of many 1-year-old birds) and a brood patch.

Interestingly, Willow Flycatchers don't breed at Lucky Peak, we only catch an average of about 2 per year, and this bird was our only Willow of the fall 2007 season. Meanwhile, we caught about 250 Willows in a couple years at Camas NWR (more directly N of Utah) with no foreign encounters ....

As much as I was hoping to get a breeding location on this bird, it's pretty cool info to know it was migrating through Utah in 2006 and southwestern Idaho in 2007. And, the timing of each capture makes sense based on molt strategy because adults migrate earlier than immatures in this species.

Willow Flycatcher (right side in both photos) captured at Lucky Peak on Aug 9, 2007. This bird was originally banded as an immature bird on August 25, 2006 in Hailstone, Utah... For those Empidonax fanatics out there, that's a Hammond's Flycatcher on the left; notice the differences in bill size (bigger/wider on Willow), plumage color (greener upperparts on Hammond's vs. browner upperparts and a white throat on the Willow), and the lack of eye-ring on the Willow.

New website

2007-11-25T21:50:00.001-07:00

IBO has a brand spankin' new website. We are really excited with the new look. Many thanks to Holly Funk who donated her time and creative expertise in designing a beautiful website.

Please visit: www.idahobirdobservatory.org

Final Raptor Numbers at Lucky Peak

2007-11-02T17:34:00.000-06:00

On Wed, Oct 31 the hawk counters (Chadi & Kyle) sat on the hill counting southbound raptors for the last time in 2007 - thus bringing to a close the fall 2007 migration monitoring season. I should note that some raptors, including Northern Goshawks (the counters mentioned seeing several adults on the move during the last few days), are certainly continuing to migrate through... It's just that the #s dwindle after October and it's important to stick to standardized dates for our monitoring to mean anything.

OK, enough babbling ... on to the #s for diurnal raptors and owls.

Diurnal Raptor season totals, 25 Aug to 31 Oct, 2007 (in descending order of abundance):
Turkey Vulture 1189
Red-tailed Hawk 1059
Sharp-shinned Hawk 947
American Kestrel 581
Cooper's Hawk 494
Northern Harrier 135
Northern Goshawk 76 (2nd best year ever; well over annual average of 43)
Osprey 55
Swainson's Hawk 41
Golden Eagle 35
Merlin 28
Broad-winged Hawk 20
Peregrine Falcon 12
Rough-legged Hawk 7
Ferruginous Hawk 4
Bald Eagle 3
Prairie Falcon 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1

...for a total of 4,814 counted (for those doing the math, this includes several categories of unidentified raptors that observers couldn't be absolutely certain about due to poor views). This is lower than average but is up 300 birds from last year (which was the lowest since 1995). Of the 5 most common species, RT Hawks and vultures #s in 2007 are above average whereas the other 3 (Sharp-shins, Cooper's, and kestrels) are all below average. In particular, American Kestrel #s are just over 1/2 of average and 2006 & 2007 have been the 2 lowest years since the study began in the mid-1990s.

Maxi Galmes (Argentina) holding an (unhappy) immature Northern Goshawk. 2007 was one of our best years for this charismatic raptor species.

Now, for the owl totals (28 Aug to 28 Oct):
Northern Saw-whet Owl 120
Flammulated Owl 6

Though the #s seem less impressive than for the raptors (especially for the Flammulated), this was the best overall owl season since 2003. And, the Saw-whets likely generate the most fascination and awe on a 'per-bird' basis- as all visitors who've enjoyed seeing these guys up close know.

Lastly, the top ten songbird species (that I neglected to post last time):
Dark-eyed Junco 1111 (a new record)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 788 (2nd lowest year)
White-crowned Sparrow 403
Dusky Flycatcher 356
Yellow Warbler 290 (a new record)
MacGillivray's Warbler 285
Yellow-rumped Warbler 284
Spotted Towhee 238
Warbling Vireo 216 (a new record)
Western Tanager 201

Cheers,

Jay

Final songbird #s from Lucky Peak

2007-10-29T14:58:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks .... (scroll down for a few photos)

I was delayed in getting to this because a day after closing up shop (on Oct 15) I flew east for a high school buddy's wedding in the Catskills Mountains of NY (awesome fall colors! - 1st time in many years that I've gotten to see that) and a short family visit. Thus, I just got done counting & re-counting the #s. Here we go:

During autumn 2007 (16 July to Oct 15), we captured 5771 birds of 56 different species. Our netting effort this year was 4116 mist net hours; this effort is lower than usual because we experienced a number of rainy and/or windy days that either prevented us from netting or reduced the number of nets that could be opened. The 2007 capture rate of 1.40 birds per mist net hour (which comes to 70 birds on an average day on which we open all 10 nets for 5 hours) is the 2nd highest in the 11 years of the study (2nd to the record season of 2006, when the capture rate was an amazing 1.71). Thus, if anything we are seeing a slight increase in captures over the years for a number of species. And, this is reflected in the fact that 2007 set record years for 8 species (and several others were tied or close 2nd). The new records set in 2007 are (in numerical order):

Dark-eyed Junco 1111 (previous high of 918 in 2006)
Yellow Warbler 290 (previous high of 186 in 2001)
Warbling Vireo 216 (previous high of 193 in 2006)
Cassin's Vireo 117 (previous high of 114 in 1999)
Brewer's Sparrow 87 (previous high of 58 in 2000)
Swainson's Thrush 26 (previous high of 20 in 2006)
Northern Pygmy-owl 10 (previous high of 5 in 2000)
Steller's Jay 4 (previous high of 3 in 2001)

Interestingly, 2007 was the first year in which Ruby-crowned Kinglets (shown here) were not the most abundant species (we caught 788; 2nd to Dark-eyed Juncos this year) and only the 3rd time we've not banded at least 1000 of this species in a season. We lost so many days and partial days to weather during the RC Kinglet peak (mid-Sept into October) that this result isn't surprising. But, it really was a stellar year for the juncos ...

Rarities/highlights from this season included the 5th Blackpoll Warbler we've banded at this site (Sept 7), our first capture of a Black-throated Gray Warbler (Aug 19), our 5th American Redstart (Aug 22), our 4th ever Green-tailed Towhee, and 4 Golden-crowned Sparrows (Sep 17, 21 [2 birds] and Oct 7). Also, in early August we captured a Willow Flycatcher that was previously banded by someone else (don't know who or where yet...).

Enjoy the late fall/early winter birding!

Jay

2 pictures of a Northern Pygmy-owl captured on Oct 11, 2007; notice the side view of the false eye-spot (below).

A Brown Creeper captured on Oct 15, 2007.

10-10-07 update

2007-10-10T19:24:00.000-06:00

Sorry Folks for the long delay!

Between the bad weather getting me down, a lovely stomach flu ;-), and the activity being generally busy on Lucky Peak, I haven't had time to post for a while. And now I find myself 5 days from the end of the songbird season (Carlos is flying home to Venezuela tomorrow!) ....

Many weather events have punctuated the last 2.5 weeks and have made the migration a little helter-skelter. In fact, the owl netting has been the most consistent aspect of the project lately as Northern Saw-whet Owl migration has picked up speed and multiple owls have been caught nightly for at least the last week. If only we could get a calm night, maybe we could catch more!

Hawks & songbirds have been more hit or miss as it seems we've either had rain or strong SE winds for much of the last couple weeks. However, on days without these downer types of weather, flights have been very strong as birds seem to be migrating in any window of decent weather. Thus, I expect any decent weather days in the coming week or 2 to be pretty good days to see loads of juncos as well as the possibility of a Northern Goshawk, Merlin, or maybe even a Rough-legged Hawk migrate past Lucky Peak.

Highlights from the last week include a possible Slate-colored Junco (maybe it was a hybrid but pretty close anyway) captured today and an adult 'Harlan's' Red-tailed Hawk caught by Eric Hallingstad on Saturday. We see Harlan's every year but rarely catch them - this may be the first adult we've ever banded! See pictures below.

Lastly, we finish the songbird season on Monday, October 15th; owls wrap up on Oct 28; and hawk counting continues thru the end of the month.

Cheers,

Jay
--------------------------------------------------
Below are 3 images of the adult Harlan's Hawk banded on October 6, 2007. Noted the white spots on the dark chest and the marbled tail:

The next 2 images are from a Dark-eyed Junco showing signs of being the Slate-colored subspecies. The photos didn't come out too well (terrible lighting today) but the first picture shows that the sides of the chest are grayish and lack the pink tones of Oregon or Pink-sided. However, the back (2nd image) shows more brownish than ideal for Slate-colored (especially for an adult, which this bird was). Thus, likely best left as an Unidentified Dark-eyed Junco subspecies.
Here is an adult male Oregon Junco for comparison - note the pink sides of the chest.

9-23 update

2007-09-23T20:02:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

Just a quick update. Friday (Sept 21) was a great migration day at Lucky Peak: the highest one-day totals for songbirds (165 banded) and raptors (522 counted) of the season. Probably this was a big movement in front of our recent rain event but this is also traditionally a peak time for abundance of migrants in this area.

10 Broad-winged Hawks were seen on Friday alone, bringing the season
total to 16. Sept 10-25 (especially the 20th-25th) are usually the
best dates for this species (with some continuing into early October) so I
expect more to pass by in the coming week as high pressure weather
resumes. Also, though far rarer (not annual), Red-shouldered Hawks
seem to appear most often in the last 10 days of September.

Songbirds are now dominated by RC Kinglets, WC Sparrows, and DE Juncos
and we are seeing an earlier than usual push for juncos (who seem to
have the most variable timing of all species we catch but often peak
in October). But, we are still seeing a some warblers, Cassin's
Vireos, Hammond's Flycatchers, & others in the mix. Pine Grosbeaks
were around for a few days late last week & I'm hoping for more ....

Happy birding,

Jay

9-19 update (GC Sparrow, Pine Grosbeak, & more)

2007-09-19T17:49:00.001-06:00

Hi Birders

After a week visiting family in CT (and seeing some great eastern birds like Philadelphia Vireo and many warblers), I returned to Lucky Peak Monday AM. Since then we've had variable success due to the weather but we had our first big push of Ruby-crowned Kinglets (53 banded) yesterday. Several songbird highlights from the last few days include:

- an adult Golden-crowned Sparrow banded on Monday, 9/17 (our first of the season & we usually catch immatures);

- an adult male Pine Grosbeak seen/heard over camp yesterday (these are not annual and, when they do occur, tend to appear in October ... I hope this means more are on the way but I have no idea);

- 1 or more Winter Wrens calling the last couple days.

Diurnal raptor numbers seem to be up from last year (so far anyway) and in the last week or so we've seen the first N Goshawks & Merlins. Also, adults of both Sharp-shinned & Cooper's Hawks are building in #.

Lastly, small forest owls (Flammulated & Northern Saw-whet) have started moving in the last week - albeit in small numbers so far.

Cheers,

Jay

Blackpoll Warbler & more

2007-09-07T16:39:00.000-06:00

The last 2 days have been pretty 'happening' on Lucky Peak. Thurs, Sep 6 was a busy day for both songbirds (~ 95 banded, including 30 WC Sparrows) and raptors (244 counted - busiest of the season so far). We followed that up today with our first Blackpoll Warbler in the nets at Lucky Peak since 2002 (8th in 11 years; pics below) as well as our first GC Kinglets of the season; since I left at lunchtime, I don't know how the hawk flight was going yet but I have to imagine it's another great day up there ....

Here is a series of shots showing the immature Blackpoll Warbler captured & banded today. For separation from autumn-plumaged Bay-breasted & Pine Warblers, notice especially the foot color, the long wings and short tail, the white undertail coverts, and the relatively short extension of the tail beyond the undertail coverts.

Due to the poor lighting shortly after sunrise, we struggled to get decent pictures of the GC Kinglets but here's a slightly blurry one just to get a sense of how small these guys really are (female left, male right) ...

Here is a shot of an adult Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow (on left; pale lores) for comparison with the shots of the Mountain subspecies I posted 2 days ago (and 1 re-posted here - on right; dark lores & slightly pinker bill) ....

All for now,

Jay

A note on the Ferruginous ...

2007-09-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

Not to beat a dead horse but I realized that some folks might be wondering why all the excitement about the Ferruginous Hawk. Though we count/monitor raptors every fall at Lucky Peak (since 1994) and we know that Ferruginous Hawks breed within 20 miles or less (out in the desert), we see them very infrequently during our migration counts - to the tune of between 0 - 7 individuals seen in a given year. Thus, we see fewer Ferruginous Hawks than we do Broad-winged Hawks (average of over 17 per year)!

Also, though not federally listed, there is concern in many areas of the species range due to conversion of native grasslands to agriculture, development, etc. (for more info, check out: http://www.ferruginoushawk.org/). Thus, in addition to being one of the most beautiful birds of prey, it's also one of those most threatened by humans and can be considered an indicator species - hinting at the condition of its habitat. As Deniz mentioned in the first post, I noticed that the muscle condition of this bird was quite poor - indicating that it has not been eating enough. Though we know that something on the order of 50% or more of immature birds die before reaching the age of 1, it was a little more real to see a bird that may be below the 50th percentile - so to speak (though we sent it on its way again with wishes of success ...).

Lastly, as you can see by checking out the satellite tracking links on the http://www.ferruginoushawk.org/ website, this species seems to be more of a nomad than many of our other migratory raptors ... which may be why we see so few from our site that are migrating in a traditional N-S direction during autumn.

Anyway, just some FYI about a cool bird!

Jay

9-5 update

2007-09-05T18:02:00.001-06:00

Hi Folks

Thanks to Deniz for posting and to Geoff for sending his photos of the immature Ferruginous .... watching this bird approach the trapping station and slowly walk/hop (not fly) its way into the trap was pretty cool! I just wanted to add one more picture (also by Geoff) - this one of Kyle (a hawkwatcher) holding its wings open:

In other news, songbird #s have been moderate but diverse and today (9/5) was our best day of the month so far (64 new, 8 recaptures). We're getting more adults of the Neotropical migrants and are also starting to catch increasing #s of WC Sparrows and RC Kinglets. The vast majority (> 99%) of the White-crowned Sparrows that we capture at Lucky Peak are of the Gambel's subspecies ('West Taiga' in Sibley) but today we banded an adult of the Mountain subspecies ('Interior West' in Sibley) - differentiated by the darker, pinker bill and the dark feathers on the lores (just behind the bill). Here are 2 shots:

Another capture worth highlighting today was an adult Cassin's Vireo looking very bright & fresh. As this is the time of year when vagrant Blue-headed Vireos are most likely, I thought I'd post a couple shots of this sharp Cassin's as a basis for comparison with any potential Blue-headeds. Notice that although this bird is quite bright, especially on the flanks, there is not a sharp contrast between the head and back and that there is a green infusion in the otherwise grayish head feathers seen from all angles.

Raptor #s are starting to pick up and the next month promises to be awesome (unless its raining). I saw an immature N Goshawk on Monday and Merlins are due any day now ....

OK, all for now - happy birding,

Jay

Ferruginous Hawk

2007-09-04T10:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Jay was fortunate to capture a young Ferruginous Hawk at the Lucky Peak West blind. I don't know all the measurements of the bird, but what I do know is that the bird had a sharp keel. After banding, measurements, and photos, the bird was released.

(All photos are courtesy of Geoff Urwin)

Sept 2 update

2007-09-02T14:42:00.000-06:00

First, let me apologize for the long delay between posts ... With several new crewmembers coming on board and both raptor projects starting in the last week, things have been busier than usual of late.

That said, it's been a pretty exciting 10 days up on Lucky Peak as bird migration study is now occurring 24-7! Songbirds have been moderately busy but very diverse over the last 10 days (see season totals below).

The hawk migration count began Sat, Aug 25 and hawk trapping began the next day. The hawk count has been relatively slow so far but is starting to gain momentum; meanwhile, hawk trapping has been quite successful - especially considering that no big flights have occurred yet. The 2006 hawk flight was the lowest in the 12 years of standardized monitoring at Lucky Peak (a pattern also observed at most other count sites in the West last year but we don't really have a sense for what caused the dip in #s); thus, it will be interesting to see whether 2007 brings some recovery.

The owl study began on night of Tues, Aug 28 and a Flammulated Owl was captured in the 1st net run of the season (we hoped this would be a good omen) but we haven't caught another owl since. Owl banding is usually best after Sept 15 .... We did catch a Pallid Bat on the 29th and, knock on wood, we haven't captured a flying squirrel yet!

Now for the songbird #s. From July 16 through August 31, we captured 2,885 birds of 52 species. Since the year 2000 (when we standardized our start date at mid-July), this is the 2nd highest mid-season total - 2nd only to 2,893 birds captured by Aug 31 in 2006. Thus, we are only 8 birds off the record 2006 pace - most mid-season totals have been between 2,100 to 2,300 birds. A Green-tailed Towhee (our 4th in 11 years at Lucky Peak) was new for the season on 31 Aug and we caught our first 2 White-crowned Sparrows on 1 Sep.

I didn't bring all of the exact #s with me but the top ten species through Aug 31 were:

1) Dusky Flycatcher (312)
2) Yellow Warbler (278 - a single-season record)
3) MacGillivray's Warbler (~ 250)
4) Yellow-rumped Warbler (~230)
5) Western Tanager (190)
6) Spotted Towhee (~140)
7) Chipping Sparrow (~130)
8) Warbling Vireo (~120)
9) Nashville Warbler (~120)
10) Brewer's Sparrow (80 - a single-season record)

Though less impressive (it seems that this species is more common as a spring migrant in southern Idaho), we are also at a single-season record for Swainson's Thrushes (22; previous record was 20). Also, we are now starting to transition from Neotropical migrants to temperate migrants - juncos, kinglets, and WC Sparrows will all become more common in the next couple weeks while most longer-distance migrants will start to diminish in #s.

Now, a few pics:

Spotted (adult) and Green-tailed (immature) Towhees; Aug 31, 2007. This is the 4th Green-tailed we've captured in 11 seasons - all since 2004. Note the difference in eye color.

A closer view of the same adult Spotted Towhee.

(Apologies for the terrible photo quality, especially to John ;-) ... in the last week, we were excited to get a visit from Caroline and John ... our Lucky Peak MVPs over the last 2 seasons while I was away working at Camas NWR. They enjoyed some songbird banding (& the 2007 crew enjoyed working with them as well), some hawk trapping, and ....

.... a visit from their pal, Gary Robinson (center) - our songbird MVP volunteer over the last few seasons (also shown here with Craters of the Moon biologist Mike Munts).

Cheers & happy September,

Jay

Wed, Aug 22 Lucky Peak update (American Redstart)

2007-08-23T11:55:00.000-06:00

After a post-cold-front slowdown experienced on Mon & Tues, the birds were moving again Wed and it was a very diverse and busy day. We banded 99 birds (also 8 recaptures) of 26 species and added 2 species (Hairy Woodpecker and American Redstart) to our season total. I don't have all the species by species details but the high numbers were Wilson's Warbler and Warbling Vireo, each with 12 banded; our 1 day record for Wilson's at Lucky Peak is 16, so 12 is a pretty good day for this site. We also had our first real 'push' of Hammond's Flycatchers (7).

The American Redstart marks only the 5th that we have captured in 11 years at this banding station (though we have seen 4 or 5 others & we probably see or catch them on average in 2 out of every 3 years) and this was an adult female. In comparison, we banded 18 redstarts at Camas NWR during autumn '05 & '06 combined! Also, though Hairy Woodpeckers are resident breeders at Lucky Peak, we catch them rarely and this was our 7th in 11 years.

In other news, Carlos and I took a wandering hike (not really lost but the trail we took didn't 'loop in' as I expected it would and I think Carlos wondered if we'd get back before dark ...) off the E side of Lucky Peak on Tues evening. Highlights included a scolding Winter Wren (I usually don't expect them here until the first week in Sept and we don't catch these guys every year), a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (an impressive lifer for Carlos - he sees some big woodpeckers at home in Venezuela but was pretty excited about this), a Dusky Grouse, and a few Elk.

Thanks to Bob Whitlach (he and Sue Norton spent the morning with us yesterday) for the following pictures ....

American Redstart adult female; 8-22-07. Our 5th ever & first in the nets since 2002.

The fattest Black-headed Grosbeak I have ever seen. Lean (carrying no fat) grosbeaks tend to weigh between 40-45 grams and, as you can see in this picture taken to prove it (I re-tared the scale just to be sure I wasn't being tricked), this immature male weighed 71.8 grams - about 8 grams heavier than I've ever seen!! His fat was literally bulging everywhere and, like a loon taking off from water, he needed about 15 yards to get airborne!

A young Townsend's Solitaire - notice the broad white edges to the greater (secondary) coverts.

A sharp-looking (recently molted in new feathers), adult Cassin's Vireo.

An immature female Townsend's Warbler.

Immature male (left) and female (right - same bird as above) Townsend's Warblers. Although hard to make out the extent of black on the head and back feathers in this picture, you can see the difference in the median coverts (making up the upper wing bar) - notice that the male's are mostly white with a thin, black line whereas the female's have a more prominent black, triangular wedge penetrating the white part of each feather.

An immature male Western Tanager.

LP update--Mon. (20th) & Tues. (21st)

2007-08-21T13:54:00.000-06:00

Jay just called me with the total from the last two days...things have been fairly slow due to the cold front that is passing through but expect numbers to pick up soon!

Monday, August 20:

3 Dusky Flycatcher
1 Western Flycatcher
2 Orange-crowned Warbler
2 Wilson's Warbler
1 Townsend's Warbler
2 Audubon's Warbler
2 Yellow Warbler
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Brewer's Sparrow
7 Western Tanager
4 Spotted Towhee
1 Black-headed Grosbeak

TOTAL: 27

Tuesday, August 21:
3 Dusky Flycatcher
1 Western Flycatcher
2 Wilson's Warbler
1 Townsend's Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Yellow Warbler
4 Warbling Vireo
3 Brewer's Sparrow
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Pine Siskin
7 Western Tanager
8 Spotted Towhee
2 Swainson's Thrush

TOTAL: 35

In addition, a MacGillivray's Warbler was recapture this morning that was banded 5 days ago. He gained 1.4 grams in 5 days!!

TOP 10 SPECIES:
268 Dusky Flycatcher
251 Yellow Warbler***** season high
217 MacGillivray's Warbler
161 Audubon's Warbler
161 Western Tanager
136 Warbling Vireo
122 Chipping Sparrow
104 Nashville Warbler
103 Spotted Towhee
75 Lazuli Bunting

Thus far this season, a total of 2260 birds have been banded of 48 species!

Lucky Peak update 8-19-07 - BT Gray Warbler

2007-08-19T18:19:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

The 2007 autumn season at Lucky Peak has continued to be busier than usual for this time of year. The best example of this is that we have already banded almost 250 Yellow Warblers - a species that we have never captured more than 190 of in any prior season!

The most exciting bird of the season (for me anyway) was an immature male Black-throated Gray Warbler that we banded today. Believe it or not (b/c this species occurs in the Owyhee Mountains just 60-100 miles away), this is the first capture or sighting in 11 seasons at Lucky Peak!!

Below is a shot of the BT Gray Warbler alone and then next to a Mountain Chickadee that we caught in the same net run (different net); these 2 pics by Carlos Valeris.

In other news, we banded our 3rd Northern Pygmy-owl of the season yesterday (8-18) and also our first Steller's Jay (no pics handy).

Below are a few more pictorial highlights with captions:

Dusky (left - adult) and Gray (right - immature) Flycatchers; 7-30-07

Hammond's (left - immature) and Willow (right - adult) Flycatchers; 8-9-07. This Willow was a foreign recovery (we didn't band it)! We don't yet know who did & where ...

Smoky sunrise; 8-3-07.

A rattlesnake that was curled up in the mess tent - a foot from my hand while I was washing dishes!! Fortunately it warned me with a couple partial rattles and was very calm.

Good birding,

Jay

Follow the signs!

2007-08-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

With thanks to a Watchable Wildlife grant, IBO has brand spankin' new signs to help guide you up to Lucky Peak! We put them up Sunday with help from Dave & Carol, Steve, Greg, and 2 great IDFG volunteers--Brian & Shawn. Thanks everyone for your help!

Lucky Peak update- August 5, 2007

2007-08-06T12:57:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks...

Just an FYI, I have much less internet access than I've had the last 2 years while at Camas. Bearing that in mind, I'll try to update as much as possible but there will be delays as I'm only in town 2x/week.If something rare appears, I'll try to call it in to several folks that might be able to post. Thanks for your patience.

During July (16th - 31st, 16 banding days) we captured 1006 birds. This is our 3rd highest July total since we started banding in the middle of July in 2000 (thus, 8 seasons with similar data; 2000-2007)and totals have ranged from 500 to 1100 in each July. Thus, because our July captures are dominated by local breeders and dispersing birds from what I guess (it really is a guess) to be a 20+ mile radius, it seems that there has been pretty good productivity this year and there also seem to be abundant insects and fruit which should be a good thing for migrants as the season goes on. That said, our hummingbird#s seem to be lower than usual.

As for the smoke (there are quite a few wildlifes burning in Idaho), we did catch fewer birds on the first really smoky day but the last few days have been pretty busy and we've caught a number of birds with charcoal on their feet and smelling strongly of smoke - suggesting that they'd been in areas with recent fires on their way to us. Pretty cool to see! I've actually noticed the charcoaled feet most on immature Yellow Warblers (one of our 3earliest southbound warblers, along with MacGillivray's and Nashville).

As mentioned in an earlier post, we started getting appreciable #s of migrants around the 23rd of July and that has continued to pick up since. We caught our first Townsend's Warbler on July 30 (had 3 of them today; I think that makes 6 for the season so far), our first(and only so far) Gray Flycatcher on July 31, and our first Townsend's Solitaire (a major fruit consumer at Lucky Peak) yesterday. We continue to catch fat RB Nuthatches that are apparently migrating. Diversity should continue to increase through August and into early September.

The Aug 11 GEAS field trip should be a good time to see lots of color and diversity ....

All for now and good birding,
Jay

Lucky Peak autumn songbird monitoring underway

2007-07-22T17:36:00.000-06:00

Greetings

On Monday, July 16 we began our 11th season of autumn songbird migration research & monitoring and captured 111 birds on day 1 (I'm really glad that our faithful volunteers Carol, Dave, & Gary were there!). It's been somewhat less busy since but we've likely averaged 65-75 birds per day in the first week. The crew consists of Carlos (Venezuela), Claudia (Colombia), Elizabeth (California), Leela (Massachusetts), Gary (Mountain Home, ID), and myself and they're all doing well and picking things up quickly!

We've caught big #s of warblers (especially Nashville, Yellow, and MacGillivray's) and Dusky Flycatchers and pretty impressive #s of others including Cassin's Vireos (8 in 1 day - mostly juveniles) and Brewer's Sparrows (we caught 3 adult females - with brood patches - in one net today). The big highlight, though, was an immature Northern Pygmy-owl that we captured and banded this morning ... this makes 11 straight years in which we've banded at least 1 (most years we catch 1 but we have caught as many as 5 in a season). Maybe I can get a picture from someone else's camera soon....

Cheers,

Jay

PS I've been so busy training that I haven't taken many pictures. However, below is a 1-yr old (second calendar year) male Cooper's Hawk that we caught a couple weeks ago during MAPS banding .... pretty neat to see the 2 generations of feathers.

Also, here's a shot of us setting up camp yesterday ....

Camas migration update 5-23

2007-05-23T16:36:00.000-06:00

For those of you who have been following IBLE (Idaho Birders Linked Electronically - a yahoo groups listserv), you've seen that the last week+ has been eventful to say the least. In a 4 day period starting last Thursday, we saw (but did not catch) a Brown Thrasher that was singing his heart out and then we caught a Magnolia Warbler (adult female) Friday, a Wood Thrush (first one photo'd in the state - maybe 2nd state state record) on Sat that stayed until Tues and gained 4.9 grams!!, and caught a female Black-and-White Warbler on Sunday. Then we had 2" of snow yesterday! Some pics below ....

Overall, migration has picked up considerably but a few species have not yet peaked, including Swainson's Thrush, Western Tanager, and Willow Flycatcher. In fact, though we have seen a few individuals of each species, we are still yet to band a Willow Flycatcher or a Western Wood-pewee. The next 2 weeks should be the peak for these species ...

Cheers,

Jay

The Wood Thrush (5-19-07); a second-year (i.e. 1 year old) bird that is one of 3 reports for the state and may represent the first photo evidence of this species in Idaho.

Magnolia Warber; after-second-year female (5-18-07)

Black-and-White Warbler (2nd-year - notice the paler primary coverts and flight feathers); caught on 5-20-07

Carlos banding a Red-shafted Flicker (his favorite capture of the season so far) and Jereme looking on.

Camas update May 10, 2007

2007-05-10T14:23:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

Only in the last 2 days (May 9-10) have we seen the first true wave of migrating songbirds. On May 7 and 8, we banded 5 and 6 birds, respectively, but we've banded 81 the last 2 days - including 52 Hermit Thrushes. A couple of the best-looking birds captured today are shown below - including a hybrid male 'Myrtle' x 'Audubon's' (Yellow-rumped) Warbler; this is shown in the first 2 pictures below (mostly Myrtle features but a yellow wash to the throat) and is evidence as to why these are not considered distinct species .... Below the Yellow-rumped is a studly male MacGillivray's Warbler - one of three captured today.

Also, Carlos (our Venezuelan field assistant) and I took a trip yesterday afternoon to see the headwaters of Camas Creek (which runs through the refuge) in the mountains N of Dubois and E/NE of Spencer. Below, Carlos in front of some coniferous forest and West Camas Creek above the town of Kilgore ....

Happy birding,

Jay

Camas NWR spring update (Harris's Sparrow)

2007-04-20T15:44:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

We started our spring migration study on Monday, April 16 and we will go until June 15. As expected (based on info from local birders and our experience last year), it's been quite slow so far but highlights have included a singing Winter Wren (yesterday) and Lincoln's Sparrows have been present since day 1 whereas we didn't see any until April 23 last year. Migrants so far mostly include RC Kinglets, DE Juncos, and WC Sparrows and we banded our first Hermit Thrush yesterday. Diversity should pick up over the next couple weeks and May 10 thru June 5 should be great!

This morning, while conducting a standardized point count survey, I heard and then saw a singing Harris's Sparrow at the very N end of the 'Dogleg' (N of headquarters) at Camas NWR. It was perched up in a group of shrubs across the creek from the last trees in this stretch. Only my 2nd for the state & the first I've seen here since I began working out here.

Today Bob Davis (a local Idaho Falls birder) saw a Marbled Godwit among other shorebirds along the refuge loop ....

Happy birding!

Jay

Spring and International Migratory Bird Day

2007-03-19T17:01:00.000-06:00

Spring songbird banding will begin April 15th at Camas National Wildlife Refuge. This is the 2nd year IBO is conducting migratory songbird banding at Camas. Please feel free to visit Jay and the crew--the banding station will be open daily (weather depending) from sunrise to 5 hours past sunrise. Monitoring will take place April 15th-June 15th.

On Saturday, May 12th, at the MK Nature Center in Boise, IBO will be participating in International Migratory Bird Day with conducting bird banding demonstrations. Join the international celebration of migratory birds with a day full of bird-related activities. This family-oriented event features bird walks, spotting scopes, banding demonstrations, live bird presentations, and kids' activities. Biologists from Idaho Fish and Game, Idaho Bird Observatory, Forest Service, and Golden Eagle Audubon Society will be on hand to answer questions and provide bird watching opportunities. This year's theme is "Birds in a Changing Climate." Find out about the effects of warming on birds and learn what we can do to reduce our impact. FREE! 10am-4pm.

Happy spring!

IBO in the newspaper again!

2006-12-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.idahostatesman.com/273/story/61950.html

Songbird wrap-up at Lucky Peak

2006-10-18T09:36:00.000-06:00

I just received an email from Caroline with the final season total for Lucky Peak: 7448! Way to go, songbird crew!!

Also, I think there is some interest out there about the dorky bird game the Lucky Peak crew played. So without delay....here's the final results (straight from Caroline's mouth):

The winner of "The Bird is Right" (you know, the game where we guess how many birds we're going to catch for the day) is John "the bot" Warzybok with 1157 points. Matt "Crazy" Gracey came in second with 1115 points. Caroline made a desperate bid in the end but still only got 969, and Corey had a strong showing (considering he wasn't around as often as our winner) with 817. Miguel totally lost with 551 points, 400 of which were donated to him by Patrick anyhow. The prize for our winner is...nothing...we gave the Boise Co-op gift certificates away to Miguel mid-season.

Dialogue for Kids-Public TV spot

2006-10-18T09:32:00.000-06:00

Greg appeared on Dialogue for Kids, a Public TV show where experts in different areas answer calls and emails from children around Idaho. This week's topic was about bird migration and that is why Greg was part of the fun! Check it out at: http://www.idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season8/birdmigration/index.cfm
Read and see (watch the program on your computer!!) what kind of questions Greg and Rex (IDFG) answered!

Songbird monitoring season finishes

2006-10-15T17:07:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

We took the nets down after banding this morning and called it good for the fall 2006 songbird season at both the Camas NWR and Lucky Peak sites (raptors are still going at Lucky Peak) and it's been an amazing year.

I don't have exact totals but the Lucky Peak crew experienced what is by far the single-season record with well over 7,400 captures (possibly over 7,500 depending on how today went) when the previous season high (5,920) was set in 2004. Thus, 2006 broke the record by about 1,500 birds!! I'm hoping that this reflects positive trends for migrant populations breeding in and migrating through Idaho but it may just have been a banner reproductive year (... still a good thing).

Meanwhile, we finished with a very respectable 4,660 captures at Camas which is slightly higher than the 2005 total (~ 4,450). Interesting captures and sightings over the last few days included a late Nashville Warbler in the nets yesterday and a Western Tanager that I saw on a point count survey today; the tanager appeared to have a deformed bill which may help explain its tardiness.

Thus, between sites we captured over 12,000 migrants - quite a year. Thanks to all the visitors/helpers who came out to enjoy the great migration phenomenon with us and we'll hope to see you again next year.

Cheers,

Jay

Lucky Peak, 10/12/06

2006-10-13T09:36:00.000-06:00

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 60
Pink-sided Junco= 1
Dark-eyed Junco= 1
Oregon Junco= 111
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 2
Pine Siskin= 8
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 10
Mountain Chickadee= 1

Total banded= 194

Owl banding= 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls (Wednesday night)

Lucky Peak-October 11, 2006

2006-10-12T08:58:00.000-06:00

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 35
Oregon Junco= 83
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 9
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 1
Pine Siskin=2

Total banded= 131

**Over 7000 songbirds have been banded for the season. The season ends this upcoming Sunday**

Hawkwatch= 15

Owl banding= 3 Northern Saw-whets (Monday night)
3 Northern Saw-whets (Tuesday night)

08 & 09 October--Lucky Peak

2006-10-09T22:10:00.000-06:00

Apologies for not posting the last week (been out of town)...it seems as though the migration has slowed a bit. Songbird banding ends this coming Sunday so hopefully with this high pressure system pushing through we will see a good finale to songbird banding. Hawkwatch, hawk trapping, and owl banding continues until the end of the month.

Songbirds (Sunday, Ocotber 8)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 52
Oregon Junco= 35
Spotted Towhee= 1
Northen Pygmy Owl= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 9
Townsend's Solitaire= 1
Hermit Thrush= 1

Total banded= 100

Songbirds (Monday , Ocotber 9)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 33
Dark-eyed Junco= 1
Oregon Junco= 30
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 2

Total banded= 66

Hawkwatch (Sunday, October 8) = 29
Hawkwatch (Monday, October 9)= 7

Owl banding= 0 (for both nights), total banded for season= 38

Lucky Peak, 10/02

2006-10-02T22:28:00.000-06:00

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 60
Townsend's Warbler =1
Oregon Junco= 25
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 1
Chipping Sparrow= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 21
Hermit Thrush= 1
American Robin= 3
Townsend's Solitaire= 1
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow= 1 (#15 of the season!!)

Total banded= 116
Over 6000 since 15 July have been banded.

Hawkwatch= 11

Hawk trapping= 1

Camas update - totals through Sept

2006-10-02T13:30:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks

Just finished adding up the numbers through September for our operation here at Camas NWR. Through Sept 30 (since July 20), we have captured 4158 birds of 72 species. The top ten most commonly captured birds are: Wilson's Warbler (1813), MacGillivray's Warbler (314), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (213 - but add 71 over the last 2 days), Chipping Sparrow (212), Orange-crowned Warbler (191), Hermit Thrush (176), Yellow Warbler (128), Dark-eyed Junco (121), Brewer's Sparrow (100), and Warbling Vireo (90). Of these, I expect #s of RC Kinglets, the thrushes, and juncos to continue to build whereas the other species are either long-since done or else winding down.

Pales in comparison to the totals at Lucky Peak (over 6000 so far) but still some great numbers. We have just under 2 weeks to go before wrapping up our fall songbird work on Oct 15.

Cheers,

Jay

Lucky Peak, 9/30

2006-10-02T08:45:00.000-06:00

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 81
Wilson's Warbler= 1
Hammond's Flyctcher= 1
Oregon Junco= 18
Chipping Sparrow= 2
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 48
Hermit Thrush= 2
Spotted Towhee= 2
American Robin= 4
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Cedar Waxwng= 3

Total banded= 160

Hawkwatch= 111

Hawk trapping= 8

Lucky Peak update, 9/29

2006-09-29T22:41:00.000-06:00

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

2006-09-28T22:07:00.000-06:00

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

2006-09-28T19:21:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-09-28T09:33:00.000-06:00

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

2006-09-27T18:16:00.000-06:00

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.

2006-09-26T18:39:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-09-25T18:54:00.000-06:00

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

2006-09-24T20:06:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-09-24T20:02:00.000-06:00

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