Saturday, May 16, 2009

Moscow area birds, 5/16/09

With this warm weather most of the migrants moved out of my neighborhood (and probably most of Moscow) overnight. I had loads of Chippings Sparrows as well as a smattering of vireos and warblers through yesterday afternoon right around my yard but it was pretty quiet this morning.

Sara de la Rue and I checked out Heron's Hideout and Bring Park in southeast Moscow this morning and had several interesting finds. The first is a restored natural area along Paradise Creek that I've been mostly checking in the fall for migrants. This morning we had a Wilson's Snipe displaying as if on territory and a couple of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in wet meadows & a small patch cattails. Also present were Yellow Warblers and Song Sparrows in the Willows and brush along Paradise Creek as they are elsewhere in town. The suprising find was a Lincoln's Sparrow singing from a yard on the edge of the wet meadow. Move this meadow a couple thousand feet higher and this would be fine breeding habitat for the species. We ended up w/ 27 species - not bad for right in town.

Later this afternoon I ventured north of Moscow (Iris suggested a car nap which was fine by me). A 15 mintute stop at the Viola Sewage Ponds yielded 22 species including a couple Spotted Sandipers (FOY), 2 Wilson's and 1 Red-necked Phalaropes among others. Like Syringa this spot can be virtually dead on some visits (although in mid May most stops are likely to produce something of interes!). From there we went north to Palouse, WA and the east back into Idaho and along the Palouse River. There were loads of swallows over the Palouse R. floodplain and a another likely singing Lincoln's Sparrow - surprising again to hear in migration (presumably).

thanks, Charles.

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

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