Our goal today was to get good looks at the
Cassia Crossbills and we accomplished that, though they were so far up in the pines that photography was challenging. The crossbills behave like parrots in Australia; they are very quiet and still when they've found a food source--it is hard to find either of them when they are tucked into the branches of a tree, eating fruit or prying open pine cones.
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Cassia Crossbill
Photo: Shari Zirlin |
I listed 9 crossbills. There might have been more, but they are hard to keep track of and I went with the 6 I counted in one tree plus 3 flyovers.
On the way up to the forest we stopped at a cliff side on Rock Creek Road and heard both
Rock Wren and
Canyon Wren. Later in the evening we were able to see Canyon Wren in Twin Falls.
Scott had heard a
Hammond's Flycatcher while we were having lunch, but it isn't much of a call and I hear better when I'm alone. But then the bird got louder and just after I heard it, Scott found it in a tree above the picnic tables. I'm always happier when I see rather than hear a bird.
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| Twin Falls |
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Where the swifts
were flying |
It wasn't until the evening that we got our final year bird of the day. After eating a fine dinner on a patio overlooking the Snake River and its gorge, we drove up to Shoshone Falls Park, another magnificent view, we were able to see a flock of
White-throated Swifts flying above a butte across the river. Not the best of looks, but obviously swifts with their jittery flight, their wings giving the optical illusion that they are flapping out of sequence, one up while the other's down. Plus, they look like flying cigars, even at a distance
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