Hi All -
Iris and I took a drive this afternoon east of Moscow to Troy and down Little Bear Ridge Rd. to Kendrick and Juliaetta along the Potlatch R. (elevation ~1200' about 1300' lower than Moscow) and then back up via American Ridge Rd.. We had ~4 " of heavy, wet snow up on top and there were scads of American Robins in the fields along with lesser scads of Red-winged Blackbirds and Starlings, a few W. Meadowlarks, etc.
There was a lot of standing water in the fields (and the Potlatch R. was bank full) but few waterfowl - perhaps spread out a bit all the standing water. There were 5 Bufflehead at Little Bear Pond (along w/ Mallards, pintail, and wigeon) and 11 at Kendrick sewage ponds, and 10 Ring-necked Ducks at the Syringa ponds.
Of most interest was a nice size flock of Savannah Sparrows just up American Ridge Rd. out of Juliaetta. It was hard to get a count estimate as they kept flushing ahead of me but there must have been 30 birds in the group - perhaps more. These birds were presumably hanging down at lower elevations due to the weather. Also in the group were a couple of White-crowned Sparrows - hard to know if these were migrants (a bit early) or local wintering birds.
Charles.
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Fwd: Moscow White-winged Crossbills & misc area sightings, 3/27/09
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charles Swift <chaetura@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 9:35 PM
Subject: Moscow White-winged Crossbills & misc area sightings, 3/27/09
To: inland birders <inland-nw-birders@uidaho.edu>
Howdy -
I had a small flock of White-winged Crossbills fly over my house mid-morning today. They were giving their rapid-fire dry chet-chet flight calls, although not well seen I'd guess there were around 20 or so birds.
Later this afternoon I did a couple hours of birding in e. Whitman Co and w. Latah Co. and found a few birds. It was very windy in most parts except down along the Palouse R. east of Palouse which was somewhat sheltered. In addition to birds listed below I noted a number of large junco flocks which appear to be moving through in good number at the moment (many are singing right now which is pretty cool to hear). There were also Killdeer widely scattered including right in Pullman near the Palouse Science Center.
Whitman Co.:
Western Bluebird - near Kamiak Butte
Spotted Towhee - 2 just east of Palouse aong the Palouse R.
Latah Co.:
Along the Palouse R. floodplain east of Palouse are many flooded low lying fields and seasonal wetlands, easily accessible from North and South River Rds. out of Palouse.
Canada Goose 30
Wood Duck 4
Mallard 100
Northern Pintail 20
Green-winged Teal 10
Hooded Merganser 2
Killdeer 1
Say's Phoebe 1
Viola Sewage Ponds:
Gadwall 2 (a pair)
Common Goldeneye 2
Barrow's Goldeneye 1
Mountainview & Darby (just north of Moscow) - still at least 15 Tundra Swans present with about 20 Canada Geese in the fields here.
thanks, Charles.
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
From: Charles Swift <chaetura@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 9:35 PM
Subject: Moscow White-winged Crossbills & misc area sightings, 3/27/09
To: inland birders <inland-nw-birders@uidaho.edu>
Howdy -
I had a small flock of White-winged Crossbills fly over my house mid-morning today. They were giving their rapid-fire dry chet-chet flight calls, although not well seen I'd guess there were around 20 or so birds.
Later this afternoon I did a couple hours of birding in e. Whitman Co and w. Latah Co. and found a few birds. It was very windy in most parts except down along the Palouse R. east of Palouse which was somewhat sheltered. In addition to birds listed below I noted a number of large junco flocks which appear to be moving through in good number at the moment (many are singing right now which is pretty cool to hear). There were also Killdeer widely scattered including right in Pullman near the Palouse Science Center.
Whitman Co.:
Western Bluebird - near Kamiak Butte
Spotted Towhee - 2 just east of Palouse aong the Palouse R.
Latah Co.:
Along the Palouse R. floodplain east of Palouse are many flooded low lying fields and seasonal wetlands, easily accessible from North and South River Rds. out of Palouse.
Canada Goose 30
Wood Duck 4
Mallard 100
Northern Pintail 20
Green-winged Teal 10
Hooded Merganser 2
Killdeer 1
Say's Phoebe 1
Viola Sewage Ponds:
Gadwall 2 (a pair)
Common Goldeneye 2
Barrow's Goldeneye 1
Mountainview & Darby (just north of Moscow) - still at least 15 Tundra Swans present with about 20 Canada Geese in the fields here.
thanks, Charles.
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
Monday, March 23, 2009
Fwd: Moscow area waterfowl (incl. Cackling Geese), 3/22/09
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charles Swift <chaetura@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Subject: Moscow area waterfowl (incl. Cackling Geese), 3/22/09
To: inland birders <inland-nw-birders@uidaho.edu>
Hi All -
I was able to get out this afternoon for a quick trip and retraced Terry's route north of Moscow. The field at the intersection of Mountainview & Darby Rds. just north of town had the bulk of the birds including the Eurasian Wigeon as well as 5 Cackling Geese. I've attached a digiscoped image of 3 of the Cackling Geese. I think these are Taverner's Cackling Geese (subspecies taverneri) but this is just hunch - not based on careful analysis. The complete eBird list from this location is below. The 6 Ring-billed Gulls were still present a bit north of this location - a species I haven't seen in Latah Co. in several years.
thanks, Charles.
Location: Latah - Darby & Mountainview fields
Observation date: 3/22/09
Notes: All waterfowl in field southeast of intersection. Cackling Geese were probably "Taverners" .
Number of species: 12
Cackling Goose 5
Canada Goose 25
Tundra Swan 16
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 40
Mallard 50
Northern Pintail 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Rough-legged Hawk 1
Killdeer 3
Horned Lark 2
American Robin 30
Red-winged Blackbird X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
From: Charles Swift <chaetura@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Subject: Moscow area waterfowl (incl. Cackling Geese), 3/22/09
To: inland birders <inland-nw-birders@uidaho.edu>
Hi All -
I was able to get out this afternoon for a quick trip and retraced Terry's route north of Moscow. The field at the intersection of Mountainview & Darby Rds. just north of town had the bulk of the birds including the Eurasian Wigeon as well as 5 Cackling Geese. I've attached a digiscoped image of 3 of the Cackling Geese. I think these are Taverner's Cackling Geese (subspecies taverneri) but this is just hunch - not based on careful analysis. The complete eBird list from this location is below. The 6 Ring-billed Gulls were still present a bit north of this location - a species I haven't seen in Latah Co. in several years.
thanks, Charles.
Location: Latah - Darby & Mountainview fields
Observation date: 3/22/09
Notes: All waterfowl in field southeast of intersection. Cackling Geese were probably "Taverners" .
Number of species: 12
Cackling Goose 5
Canada Goose 25
Tundra Swan 16
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 40
Mallard 50
Northern Pintail 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Rough-legged Hawk 1
Killdeer 3
Horned Lark 2
American Robin 30
Red-winged Blackbird X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura@gmail.com
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