Twin Falls | American Falls 7/25--Marbled Godwit, Barn Owl, Western Meadowlark, Bullock's Oriole

Common Nighthawk
Photo: Shari Zirlin

We spent the first part of the morning driving around the fields outside of Twin Falls (doesn't take long to get there) where we found a few birds, like the Common Nighthawk above which was impervious to all the clicking cameras, plus our first Western Meadowlark and flyby Bullock's Oriole. Then it was off to American Falls (lot of falls in Idaho) where Scott was hoping the reservoir levels were low and we'd be able to do some shorebirding. It was not to be as the reservoir seemed to have ample water and little shore line. However, we did at least see a large flock of Marbled Godwits fly by. We also had Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe and plenty of pelicans (white) to entertain us.  

Since it didn't look like there was shoreline on any other part of the reservoir, Scott called an audible and we headed out for another area. But the best bird of the day was found in transit. As he pulled off the highway and was coming down the exit ramp Scott saw something beneath the overpass and called out "Whoa, that looks like a Barn Owl!" He got on the walkie-talkie and told Linda to park in the grassy area (just try pulling this maneuver off in NJ) and we all got out of the vans. As we walked toward the concrete road support an owl suddenly flew out from between two columns and went about 100 yards into a nearby tree. Looking at the wall of the bridge we could see lots of whitewash. We managed to find the owl in the tree and got it in a scope when another one appeared and flew in the opposite direction. Evidence of nesting I'd say. That bird circled around and looked like it wanted to get back under the bridge, so, with one of our group having digiscoped a few photos, we left since these birds, unlike the Flams, do seem to be stressed by humans. 

Finding these owls made us happy on two counts. First, anytime you see a Barn Owl it is an event. Secondly, it meant that we could stop slowing up at every pile of hay bales to look for owls nestled in the crevices between the bales. There are a lot of hay bales in Utah and Idaho.