Moscow - UI Campus migrants, 3/31/11

Despite the gusty winds on the Palouse today there were a nice variety
of birds on campus during an afternoon walk (eBird list for UI
Arboretum below). It started out w/ a flock of ~75 Bohemian Waxwings
in the middle of campus which then flew over to the Arb (although
there might have been several flocks around). At the Arb were several
Ruby-crowned Kinglets associating w/ a small flock of Golden-crowned
Kinglets and BC Chickadees. As I was leaving the Arb a couple of
Violet-green Swallows zipped over heading south (interestingly).
Walking back through the Shattuck Arboretum I was alerted to the
presence of a Great Horned Owl by a noisy crow (which could be one of
a pair nesting somewhere in the Shattuck).

Charles.

Moscow - UI Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Latah, US-ID
Mar 31, 2011 1:40 PM - 2:50 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: Gusty winds but mild and nice variety of birds from
ponds up (the upper parts seem to have the best shelter).
20 species

Canada Goose 4 (on nest on lower pond)
Mallard 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 1
Rock Pigeon 6
Common Raven 1
Violet-green Swallow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Robin 15
Varied Thrush 1
European Starling 1
Bohemian Waxwing 75
Song Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 5
House Finch 5
Pine Siskin 10
Evening Grosbeak X

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

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
(north-central Idaho, 80 miles SE of Spokane, WA)
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473

Pullman, WA Bewick's Wrens/Spotted Towhee - Lawson Gardens/Kruegal Park , 3/6/11

I had a few hours to kill in Pullman this afternoon and stumbled upon Lawson Gardens in the southeast part of Pullman. It was quite full of birds including a pair of Bewick's Wrens (male singing) and a female Spotted Towhee. The towhee may be an arrival but it also seems a reasonable place for an over-wintering bird. This seems like a good urban park for wintering birds and perhaps could be in migration as well. The eBird list below includes some birds from the surrounding neighborhood.

thanks, Charles.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <do-not-reply@ebird.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 10:23 PM

Location:     Lawson Gardens/Kruegal Park
Observation date:     3/6/11
Number of species:     19

California Quail     5
Rock Pigeon     1
Northern Flicker     5
Black-billed Magpie     20
American Crow     8
Black-capped Chickadee     1
Red-breasted Nuthatch     2
Bewick's Wren     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     4
American Robin     10
European Starling     5
Spotted Towhee     1
Song Sparrow     3
Dark-eyed Junco     25
Cassin's Finch     1
House Finch     20
Pine Siskin     35
American Goldfinch     2
House Sparrow     30

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

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
(north-central Idaho, 80 miles SE of Spokane, WA)
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
(north-central Idaho, 80 miles SE of Spokane, WA)
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473

Moscow area birds - in and a few out of town

There are quite a few birds in Moscow right now most notably it seems large numbers of Cassin's Finches. We had a flurry of activity in our yard Saturday AM and this morning which included a hard to count group of Cassin's (probably 15-20) which I think is a high count for our yard. Over President's Day weekend a report of  50 was submitted to the GBBC from a resident on the east side of Moscow which seems plausible given the numbers around (but one has to be careful of the possible confusion w/ House Finch in these cases).

This morning walking in to work I had more Cassin's Finches and several singing Varied Thrushes  (hard to tell how many due to difficulty in localizing this species by their song). There has also been a Varied Thrush on campus singing from a little bramble on the east end of the Life Sciences bldg. Also on my walk I had a Yellow-rumped Warbler in an east side neighborhood. There are still plenty of Evening Grosbeaks around including a few that came into our feeders on Saturday AM which we don't see very often despite them being regular fly overs. And some occasional small groups of fly over Red Crossbills. Also nice to hear all the singing Dark-eyed Juncos around town at this time of year.

On Saturday I had a couple of brief opportunities to check areas on the outskirts of town and had a couple of Killdeer, an adult Bald Eagle, and small dark goose w/ about 30 Canadas north of town that I thought was a good candidate for Cackling (Taverner's) Goose. There was also a couple of Killdeer near Paradise Creek on the southeast side of campus yesterday (Monday).

thanks, Charles.

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
(north-central Idaho, 80 miles SE of Spokane, WA)
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
(north-central Idaho, 80 miles SE of Spokane, WA)
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473