South Idaho RBA
April 10, 2000
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 20:13:36 -0600
Reply-To: Diana Gettinger <gettinger@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Sender: "National Birding Hotline Cooperative (West)"
<BIRDWEST@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
From: Diana Gettinger <gettinger@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject: [BIRDWEST] Southeast idaho Bird Report
To: BIRDWEST@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
This is the southeast Idaho bird report brought to you by the Idaho
Museum of Natural History. This alert was updated on Monday April
10th. Birds noted for this week are as follows:
Common Loons, Eared Grebes, Sandhill Cranes, Greater Yellowlegs,
American Avocets, Bonaparte's Gulls, Franklin's Gulls, Short-eared Owls,
Burrowing Owls, Sage Thrashers, Sage Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrow,
Lincoln's Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinch, and Evening Grosbeaks.
In the early evening or morning there are many Short-eared Owls courting
over the entrance to the marshes of Market Lake WMA. To get there
drive about 15 miles north of Idaho Falls on I-15, get off at the
Roberts exit. Turn right to the stop sign, then left out of town, and
keep right at the "Y" on the north side of Roberts. The marsh is about
three miles out this paved road. This is at about B/C -2 on page 40 of
the Idaho DeLorme atlas. There are many ducks on the open water of the
Wildlife management Area, and Sandhill Cranes can be heard calling all
around the area.
About 10 miles further up I-15 there is a pair of Burrowing
Owl on the east side of I-15 near an underpass about two miles north of
Sage Junction. You can also get to this area from the frontage road to
Hamer that runs parallel east of the freeway. Sage Sparrows and Sage
Thrashers can also be seen and heard singing along this frontage road.
There were about 30 American Avocets feeding along the edge of Swan Lake
yesterday, and many Franklin's Gulls were calling while flying
overhead. This is on US 91 about 12 miles south of Downey, and at about
B/C-2/3 on page 22 of the Idaho atlas. At the Oxford Slough, about 2
miles further south, there were four Greater Yellowlegs and several
groups of Sandhill Cranes. And at Twin Lakes there were 13 Common Loons
and several flocks of Eared Grebes on Sunday. We expect the number of
loons to grow up to about 100 during the remainder of the month. You
can get to this reservoir by turning west off of US 91 at Banida and
following the Sportsmans access signs out about 3 miles to the lakes.
At the Fish and Game fish hatchery on the north side of the Snake River
across from American Falls there is still a Golden-crowned Sparrow
visiting the bird feeders near station 10 on the nature trail through
the Russian olives, but the White-throated Sparrow may have moved on. A
single Lesser Goldfinch is in a large flock of American Goldfinches and
on Saturday there were two Lincoln's Sparrows near the feeder. To get
there drive across the dam, take an immediate left, then left again and
follow the signs down to the hatchery. The nature trail is on the east
side of the hatchery. On the Snake River below the dam there were two
Bonaparte's Gulls on Saturday, as well as many Red-breasted Mergansers
and both species of goldeneyes..
Finally, Evening Grosbeaks have finally showed up and are visiting my
feeders near the west bench in Pocatello as of this past weekend.
For further information or to report a bird sighting you can call Chuck
Trost at 236-3337, or you can call him at home at 233-4538.