Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Moscow swifts and swallows, 4/22/2008

Violet-green Swallows were back on the UI Campus today and this afternoon there were 3 Vaux's Swifts chasing each other around the Life Sciences building. I have to wonder if these were in the group of swifts and swallows I saw down along the Potlatch R. yesterday afternoon. (I also wonder if they will be back down there tomorrow w/ the incoming weather!)

Charles.

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com

Monday, April 21, 2008

Latah Co. arrivals, 4/21/2008


I decide to head down to the lower elevations of Latah Co. this afternoon to see if migrants were stuck down there waiting out the cold weather. This means heading to Kendrick which is along the Potlatch R. at ~750 ', considerably lower than Moscow at ~2500'. I went down Little Bear Ridge Rd. east of Troy and was surprised to see ~15 N. Shovelers resting along the upper part of Little Bear Ck. which is in a forested valley at this point. Further along past Little Bear Ridge cemetery I stopped at my favorite farm pond which had the following:

Tundra Swan     1
Gadwall     2
American Wigeon     20
Mallard     2
Northern Shoveler     10
Canvasback     1 (female, persisting from last week)
Bufflehead     5
Killdeer     3
Greater Yellowlegs     1
Lesser Yellowlegs     1 (foy - first of year)
American Robin     20

Heading on down to Kendrick I stopped a bit above the confluence of Big & Little Bear Cks. and spent the next hour working the area just above and below the confluence which held a good variety of migrants. Most notable was a group of 10 Townsend's Solitaires in several cottonwoods just below the confluence along w/ a Mountain Bluebird. I presume most of these and the other migrants were waiting out the cold here before heading to higher elevations. This area is about a mile north of Kendrick.

Mallard     3
Turkey Vulture     3
Cooper's Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
American Kestrel     1
Northern Flicker     1
Common Raven     1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow     2 (first of year)
Black-capped Chickadee     2
Rock Wren     1                             (first of year)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     3
Western Bluebird     8
Mountain Bluebird     1                  (first of year)
Townsend's Solitaire     12
American Robin     4
Orange-crowned Warbler     5
Nashville Warbler     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler     8
Song Sparrow     2
White-crowned Sparrow     2

Reports generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

A stop at Kendrick produced an Osprey (foy) flying over the Potlatch R. We then stopped at the Juliaetta park so Iris could play and had a large flock of swallows fly over heading up the river - mostly unidentifiable due to height and light (but I presume mostly Violet-green Swallows) but with a few Vaux's Swifts (foy) mixed in. This last experience makes me wonder if this is where most of the swallows from Moscow and points east retreat to during these early spring cold snaps.

thanks, Charles.

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Moscow area weekend birds

Hi All -

Not too much to report as I've been working around the house mostly (in between trips to the park to play w/ Iris!). With the warm weather the bird activity in town has dropped off considerably but I still had a small group of CASSIN'S FINCHES at my feeders this afternoon and a few DE JUNCOS still around yesterday (Saturday). Robins and crows are clearly nesting in the area (found a crow nest in E. City Park this PM). Also had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet singing near the house (and more on Friday at the UI Arboretum).

While running errands I managed a few quick stops. Notable yesterday at "Loch 95" - the spring runoff pond along US 95  north of Moscow - were 6 GW Teal, Mallard, 3 N. Pintail, 15 A. Wigeon, and 2 Ring-necked Ducks. Today (Sunday) at the UI Dairy ponds were a male Wood Duck and a female Hooded Merganser together (both pretty good Moscow City species).

There have been a lot of California Tortoiseshell butterflies flying around Moscow the past few days. This is an interesting species as all adults overwinter and then breed the following spring. Apparently there was an influx into the are last fall - they are also known to have erratic population explosions and mass migrations.

Tomorrow could be interesting w/ this vigorous low pressure arriving perhaps grounding some migrants.

thanks, Charles.

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com

Friday, April 04, 2008

Latah Co., 4/4/2008

Hi All -

Iris and I went for a drive east of Moscow this afternoon out to Deary and back. It was snowing heavy, wet snow when we got to Deary. North of Deary there was still a foot or more of snow in places (I'm sure there is much more up higher). [On a side note, from a high point in Moscow on Thursday, we could see lots of patches of snow on the Palouse hills surrounding Moscow, pretty unusual for early April.] Also noted a lot of standing water in fields and creeks running pretty full out east of Moscow.

Just east of Troy a Turkey Vulture flew over. I checked Spring Valley Res. which is still fast frozen but there are a dozen or so Canada Geese on the grassy areas waiting for it to thaw. The Deary Sewage Ponds were busy - list below. (Pied-billed Grebe was interesting at this location, clearly a migrant.)

Location:     Deary Sewage Ponds
Observation date:     4/4/08
Notes:     East ponds counted from church and west church from highway. Wet snow falling at time but good visibility.
Number of species:     12

Canada Goose     X
Wood Duck     5
Mallard     4
Bufflehead     36
Common Goldeneye     11
Barrow's Goldeneye     1
Pied-billed Grebe     1
Killdeer     1
Black-billed Magpie     X
Common Raven     3
Pine Siskin     X
Evening Grosbeak     15 fly overs

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

North of Deary I did a traveling count along Mica Mountain Rd. looping back on Deer Rd. and had 3 Savannah Sparrows among others. After checking out the old Avon Cemetery just to the west I did another traveling count the Ailor Cutoff Rd. back to the highway (ID-3). Results are below. 

Charles.

Location:     Ailor Rd.
Observation date:     4/4/08
Notes:     Road follows Big Bear Ck. in part. Lots of standing water. Snipe was calling.
Number of species:     11

Canada Goose     30
Mallard     4
Hooded Merganser     1
Wilson's Snipe     1
Black-billed Magpie     6
American Robin     X
European Starling     X
Savannah Sparrow     1
Red-winged Blackbird     18
Western Meadowlark     2
Brewer's Blackbird     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com