Sunday, April 22, 2012

Moscow area birds 4/21-22/12 (& eBird breeding codes)

Good morning - 

I had nice walks around my east Moscow neighborhood this and yesterday mornings w/ ~20 spp. on each thus netting me my "20 bird minimum daily requirement" for each day (see: http://tinyurl.com/7pbmaxf). Links to my eBird lists are below. 

Notables included American Kestrel (nesting several blocks away), Red-naped Sapsucker (foy), Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warbler (foy), White-crowned sparrows, Evening Grosbeak (foy). We now have at least 2 territorial Eurasian Collared-Doves within calling distance of our house (not sure what to think about that!). 

Last evening I spent several hours owling in the Kendrick-Juliaetta area (se Latah Co.) along the Potlatch R. Only Great Horned Owl to show for my efforts but enjoyed the warm evening and choruses of Pacific Tree Frogs which were widespread and calling loudly. On the way I stopped at to check the Syringa wasterwater ponds east of Moscow and had a bunch of waterfowl - 100+ individuals of 8 spp.

I've been adding breeding codes to my eBird checklists as I find evidence for breeding this spring. This is a fairly new feature in eBird and has potential to generate lots of useful information. Many states have conducted Breeding Bird Atlases (e.g. Oregon about 10 years ago) but Idaho and Washington have not. You should be able to see the breeding codes and description in my checklists. I've included a link to the eBird tutorial on breeding codes below that.

thanks, Charles.

eBird lists:



eBird breeding code tutorial here:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/breeding-codes 

--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com