Kinney Creek Trail | Mink Creek Road | Curlew National Grasslands 7/27--10 Year Birds

Cordilleran Flycatcher on nest, Kinney Creek Trail

For our last day of birding in Idaho we went south (I think) to the Caribou National Forest, where we spent most of our time walking up the Kinney Creek Trail, a rather steep, rocky trail with little stream trickling down it here and there. At first I thought the birding was slow, but new birds began to appear with alacrity and after the half mile or so before we turned around (cattle up ahead didn't discourage us, but didn't encourage us either) we had 20 species, a lot of them new. The highlight, for me was seeing a Cordilleran Flycatcher (a bird whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce) on its nest. We also came across a number of what a friend mine calls "tweety" birds, like Juniper Titmouse, Bushtit, and Black-throated Gray Warbler, none of which were willing to sit still for portraits.

20 species

Mourning Dove  2

Black-chinned Hummingbird  1

Red-naped Sapsucker  1

Gray Flycatcher  2

Cordilleran Flycatcher  1

Plumbeous Vireo  2

Common Raven  3

Black-capped Chickadee  2

Juniper Titmouse  1

Bushtit  5

House Wren  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

American Goldfinch  1

Chipping Sparrow  2

Lark Sparrow  1

Spotted Towhee  10

Yellow-breasted Chat  1

Yellow Warbler  3

Black-throated Gray Warbler  1

Lazuli Bunting  3

We moved to a higher elevation to Scout Mountain Campground, where some of the RV owners keep hummingbird feeders out. I was hoping for a Calliope Hummingbird, which would have been a lifer, but the best we could do was Broad-tailed Hummingbird.


It was time to head back to Salt Lake City and as we did coming up, we made quick stops whenever we saw new or interesting birds on the side of the road. On Mink Creek Road we came upon a small flock of Mountain Bluebirds as well another Vesper Sparrow. On Buist Road, after crossing into Oneida County (Only Scott and I cared what county we were in) Scott heard Grasshopper Sparrows and we found them teed up on sticks and bushes in the fields. This was flagged as rare, but probably only because there are so few birders in Idaho. Our group might have doubled the population of birders in the state while we were there.  Finally, in the Curlew National Grasslands, which we passed through rather quickly, we stopped long enough to add Brewer's Sparrow to our lists. It is an unprepossessing bird. As Scott pointed out, along with Brewer's Blackbird, Brewer was not fortunate in the birds named for him.

Once we were on the interstate our birding ceased and our dozing began.