BC Fairgrounds 8/21--American Golden-Plover

"Sod-farming" is not my favorite style of birding. It consists of standing on the side of busy roads in Monmouth and Mercer Counties, scanning clods of dirt on the various Reed Sod Farms scattered through those counties. Once in a blue moon you find a "grasspiper." Most times you see a lot of Killdeer and starlings, while big trucks sweep behind you and cars honk their horns because they can. There is little walking involved. You won't build up a big list. There is always a haze on the fields and sun glare in your eyes. What's not to like?

But I do it every year because...you just might get lucky. Yesterday's episode with Mike started out with us thinking we had, then became a disappointment, and was finally rescued on the grounds of a former sod farm.

If I'm going to sod farm, my favorite spot to do it is on Rt 526 Spur, using the parking lot of the Reed Recreation Area as my viewing spot and looking across the road to the farm. While there is often the blur of a speeding vehicle in your scope's eyepiece, you are at least not right in the line of traffic. That was our second stop of the morning, the first farm, across from the White Birch Farm, being a haven for starlings and nothing else.

Horned Lark
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

I'd seen a few birds moving int he torn up dirt, so we set up our scopes and they weren't the Least Sandpipers I thought they might be, but instead were "land birds." They were hard to see, since they kept disappearing behinds hunks of dirt and the lighting was terrible, but we could clearly see white bellies, wing bars, and a facial pattern that suggested a sparrow-like bird. There aren't a lot of birds that like that kind of barren habitat--larks, pipits, and longspurs are about the only ones. We knew they weren't pipits, they sure didn't look like larks to us, McCown's Longspur would be an astonishing rarity and they didn't look like that species either, so we defaulted to another somewhat less rare rarity--Lapland Longspur.

We were pretty excited, but we didn't put out an alert (thanks be to caution) because while the birds looked convincing they weren't 100%. We ran up to the farm on Herbert Road where we ran into our friend Bob D and told him about our find. He turned around and drove down there. We were just pulling into the Mercer Corporate Park (nothing) when he called and said all he saw were Horned Larks. We drove back there as he was leaving, scoped the field again, and did indeed find one obvious Horned Lark. The birds we had been seeing weren't in sight.  Looking at the lark with its yellow breast and black collar only convinced us that our original ID was correct.

It wasn't until we got to the BC Fairgrounds that we got shot down. Mike had sent a picture to Scott who said, basically, nope, lark. What a let down! I get birds wrong all the time, but to be so far off makes me cringe. And it still doesn't really look like a lark to me--must be immature or a female.

I got the bad news from Mike while I was scanning the mowed field beyond the parking lot at the fairgrounds. Those fields use to be called the Mercer Sod Farm, so technically we were still sod farming. We'd come there because an American Golden-Plover had been reported. Now, this is not the place I want my golden-plover. I want it in Whitesbog. Mike is not so fussy.

I moving my scope west to east: Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer...I was up to 55 Killdeers when I finally hit "not a Killdeer" and found the plover. Mike quickly got on the bird. Too far out for photography. We spend a lot of time looking at this plover. Didn't want to get burned again. But it was a no doubter. There had been 3 Upland Sandpipers in the field for the last week or so but only one remained. Whether 2 had flown out and one straggler stayed, or 3 had flown out and this was a replacement is impossible to say. You only need one. Just for fun, Mike kept counting Killdeers. He ended up with 120. Sounds like a lot until you hear that someone else counted 192.

With that we gave up on sod farming and on the way home, stopped in at Bunker Hill Bogs, which, we happy to find, is now passable. It seems like for almost a year the trails were flooded, but we had no problems walking the length of the trail from the parking to Butterfly Road and back. We accumulated 31 species, including 5 species of warblers (yellowthroat, pine, redstart, Ovenbird, Black-and-White), which is not bad for mid-day, mid-summer.

Whitesbog 8/19--American Avocet, Black Tern

American Avocet

For the last 3 weeks, ever since I got back from out west, I have gone to Whitesbog almost every day. There have been some interesting birds there, but when your continuing "rarities" are 3 immature Little Blue Herons, you get a little anxious for something else. Today, because I had a doctor's appointment in Manahawkin, I went down to Tuckerton instead (where I picked up a Pectoral Sandpiper for the county).

But, as I predicted on Saturday, when I was birding there with Jim S, the day I don't go there will be the day the cool birds show up. It was late this afternoon; a thunderstorm had just passed through in a few minutes; my phone jingled and there was a text from Jim-- Sandra had an American Avocet at Whitesbog. We've fantasized about one of these birds showing up there. We've heard from our friend who is a Whitesbog stalwart that he's seen one in the past, but he doesn't report birds, so this is officially the first avocet in Burlco.

I was out the door in 3 minutes. When I hit Route 70 another thunderstorm started and the rain was ferocious the entire 10 miles to Whitesbog. I didn't care. I was willing to be drenched for a Whitesbog avocet.  The storm began to slacken as I turned onto the bogs. Sandra was at the cross dike between the two drawn down bogs and there, about halfway out was the avocet. I stood in the drizzle and admired it and took the distant shot above, which was lucky, because right after that photo, my old camera upped and died, the zoom function completely burned out. But I had the avocet. Neither the fact that I had just seen 10,000 avocets in Utah, nor that it wasn't a year bird did anything to diminish my happiness. Whitesbog just enough off the main birding routes so that it feels like an open secret and while it attracts a good number of rarities, they mostly, for some reason, don't linger, so you have to be quick.

Sandra had put out an alert on Jersey Shore Birds so Mike saw it and texted me, assuming I was on my way. I replied that I already had the bird and encouraged him to come have a look-see since the bird appeared to be very comfortable in the puddle, not spooked by passing cars, trucks, dog walkers or dog joggers. Jim was also due soon. 

Sandra left, Mike arrived and it was a drive up bird for him. The biggest problem we all seemed to have was seeing through our fogged up binoculars--the storm had dropped the temperature about 20 degrees, but the humidity was still palpable.

Black Tern (digiscope)

Jim got there a few minutes later. The bird hadn't moved and he got his 2nd county lifer of the day (he had found a Whimbrel on the Delaware earlier). The three of us were scanning the bog, looking at the avocet. Every once in a while Jim would mention that there was something flapping around in the background, but I thought it was just the Laughing Gull that has been in that bog since the weekend.

But then I saw something flying over the bog that wasn't a shorebird. I pointed it out to Mike and I knew it was a tern, but I thought it was the first of the Gull-billed Terns that annually visit the bogs. When we got Jim on it he and Mike came to the simultaneous conclusion that it was the much more interesting Black Tern we were following as it flapped and glided over the bog and then back over to Union Pond. Another example of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect. Last year, at just about this time, I had a BlackTern on Union Pond, so perhaps they'll also become an annual visitor (though it is getting late for the Gull-billed Terns this year). So those two birds, along with the continuing Little Blues and a Snowy Egret which is new for the year at Whitesbog, made for some great, unexpected birding, late in the day. And I'll be back there tomorrow morning, hoping for more.

BC Fairgrounds 8/14--Another Example of the 2nd Law of Birding

Which states:
You will not see the bird until you truly give up

After my daily traipse around the two drained bogs at Whitesbog, where there are now 3 Little Blue Herons (would 4 constitute a flock?) and a little of everything but not much of anything, I saw that at the Burlington County Fairgrounds 3 Upland Sandpipers were still in the fields beyond the parking lot. While not a year bird, they would be Burlco year birds and are always cool birds to see, so I drove over there, despite a sudden rainstorm that hit as I passed by Fort Dix.

The rain became drizzle as I pulled into the parking lot. There are a lot of fields beyond that lot and I didn't know where the sandpipers were but, as I usually do, I parked and began to walk the fence line. I had also seen that 90 Bobolinks had been reported this morning, so I thought they might be consolation birds if I missed the uppies. However, mostly what I saw were Laughing Gulls presumably making their way to the Delaware and Barn Swallows swooping over the grasslands and mowed fields.

Finally, while scanning a field of wildflowers with my binoculars, I found one Bobolink teed up on a stalk. Then a few Killdeers flew over. Then more Killdeers going into and out of the fields and a then a couple of Least Sandpipers flew right by me, close enough to identify naked eye. The parking spaces there run parallel to the fence line; I had parked in space #2. When I saw what I was pretty sure were the 3 uppies far out in the field, I was at space #75. I walked back to the car to get my scope, walked back to space #75, set up the scope, and miraculously, the 3 birds were still there, walking right. Behind them were about 25 Killdeer. I tried to take some digiscope photos but bad lighting, distance, and small birds made for completely useless photos. They weren't even good photos of grass!

Then I lost them. I didn't see them fly, and the grass was of an even height, yet I couldn't find them. I shouldn't have cared, but it bugged me, because this has been happening a lot to me lately at Whitesbog, where I have a bird and then I don't and unless they're sinking into the ground, I don't know where they're going.

So, while I was scanning the fields, back and forth, back and forth, another birder pulled up. We'd met before, though I didn't really remember. I told him I'd had the uppies; he'd come for the uppies; the uppies would be lifers for him. So we kept looking long after I'd have normally left. We saw an Osprey of all hawks, far out in the field. It too was presumably on its way to the Delaware and was only making a pit stop there. But after a half hour of looking, we gave up.  "Past my lunch time," I told him. "Oh well," he said. And then...he saw three birds, farther out than I had seen them, and more to the left. I gave him my scope while I scanned with my bins. He couldn't find the place in the field where they were walking, but I saw them, put them in the scope and he had his lifers. After he had truly given up. And thus, the law is proven yet again.

And in the Category "Most Incomprehensible Sign" the Award Goes to...

Barnegat Light SP, entrance to parking lot.

Whitesbog 8/6--Little Blue Heron (Rare)

Little Blue Heron, Great Egrets, Middle Bog

Digiscoped

My whole route around the bogs has changed now that the breach between the Middle and Upper Bogs has been filled in. Actually, there are a number of possibilities, most of them sketching out a figure eight around the two drawn down bogs, and I haven't settled on any one of them yet as the best. Today, because the morning was heavy with fog, I started out sans camera and scope, figuring the lighting conditions were terrible for photography and that all the scope would do would be to enlarge gray mist if I tried to look at anything in the middle of the bogs. With my binoculars  I could at least do edge birding, then come back for the optics when the fog burned off.

At the northwest corner of the middle bog this decision bit me. I came upon what I assumed was the same flock of 16 Great Egrets I had seen the previous day, all standing in one of the remaining pools, when I saw another white bird standing off to the side of them. With my binoculars I could see that it wasn't a Great Egret and when I approached closer I could see that it wasn't a Snowy Egret either. It was the season's first Little Blue Heron at Whitesbog, an immature bird. And also the first "rarity" at Whitesbog for the season, as Little Blues don't make it into Burlco very often, though they are a regular and expected visitor to the bogs this time of year. I saw my friend's truck driving up one of the roads, so I walked back toward him, knowing he'd want to see the Little Blue too. We stood around and talked for a while and, as the fog already seemed to be lifting, I walked the thousand or so steps back to my car, got the scope, got the camera and went back to document the Little Blue. It was very cooperative until it was not. When the whole flock of egrets upped and moved to the middle of the bog, it did too.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The predominant shorebird in the bogs today was Semipalmated Plover, following by Least Sandpiper. I saw one Pectoral Sandpiper on the edge of the bog as I was driving in, associating with a Lesser Yellowlegs. Later, as I was about to leave, I saw what I thought was the same bird again and took some photos of it. When I looked at them, I wasn't so sure, because, though it was much larger than a Least, which Pectorals superficially resemble, the tell-tall "vest" field mark didn't look like it came down low enough on the breast to me. I put the picture on my eBird list as "Shorebird sp" and asked for help. Within 10 minutes Bob Auster texted that it looked good to him for Pec (eBird can be scary) and 5 minutes later I got an email from the county reviewer saying too that it was a Pec. You have to account for variation in your identifications. Everything else about the bird said Pec to me, but I got hung up on the classic field mark.

Probably because the bogs were drained in the spring, there is a lot more grass in the bogs than usual. This can be problematic for shorebirds for two reasons--shorebirds want mud and grass can hide what shorebirds are there. But, I think it may actually encourage the so-called "grasspipers" like Buff-breasted Sandpiper and American Golden-Plover to stop over in the bogs, since they prefer a dryer, greener habitat. We'll see.

As it was, a decent day on the bogs:

33 species

Mallard  9

Mourning Dove  6

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1    Heard

Semipalmated Plover  25    most in Middle Bog

Killdeer  6

Least Sandpiper  25

Pectoral Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  1

Spotted Sandpiper  6

Solitary Sandpiper  5    Middle Bog

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  16

Little Blue Heron  1   

Green Heron  2    Behind Union Pond

Northern Flicker  1    Heard Union Pond

Eastern Wood-Pewee  5    Heard

Eastern Phoebe  3

Eastern Kingbird  4

American Crow  2    Heard

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Purple Martin  40

Tree Swallow  20

Barn Swallow  10

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Gray Catbird  12

Brown Thrasher  2

Chipping Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  3    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  25

Common Yellowthroat  2

Whitesbog Draw Down

Solitary Sandpiper

It is that happy time of the year when the bogs (technically the reservoirs) get drawn down at Whitesbog, creating prime conditions for shorebirds, terns, herons and egrets as short 15 minute drive from home. I made my way out there the first day back from our trip out west and found that the lower bog was already getting shallow. By the time I returned two days later, it was pretty much empty and there were lots of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets standing on either side of Cranberry Run which runs down the middle picking at the passing parade of food. By Friday, the middle bog was starting to empty and today it was about halfway down with plenty of mud flats for shorebirds. I had my first Pectoral Sandpipers of the season in there this morning.

Last year, because of the breach in the Upper Reservoir, we didn't have a shorebird season there because the farmer wasn't confident he'd have enough water to irrigate the cranberries, so it was with great relief that I heard he'd agreed to make the draw down this year. The history of the draw down is interesting. Originally, the bogs were emptied so that grasses and plants would grow in them, providing a distracting food source for the Tundra Swans that flock there in the winter when the bogs are re-flooded and keep them out of the working cranberry bogs. The drained bogs naturally attracted birds, the mud being thick with invertebrates, the little puddles and Cranberry Run full of fish, frogs, and other goodies. But ever since the "string theory" of waterfowl control was introduced, in which a grid of thick strings is set up just above the flooded cranberry bogs, discouraging geese and swans from landing in them, the farmer (let's call him "Bob") has emptied the bogs as a favor to birders, especially one in particular who spends a great deal of time there, has known Bob forever and makes the request as to timing. It is a great thing to do and he deserves all the thanks in the world for going out of his way to create habitat for migrating birds.

There are 3 bogs (all, somewhat inconveniently when rarities occur, on the Burlco side of the county line) with the middle, largest bog, attracting the most birds. The birds usually get what they can out of the lower bog and move to the middle as soon as mud flat start to appear. I could see this happening today, with many more sandpipers in the middle bog and only herons, egrets, and Solitary Sandpipers in the lower. For some reason, the Solitary Sandpipers prefer the ditch that runs along the cross dike (in local parlance, a "dam") and are reliably found there. I was birding today with a friend who still "needed" Solitary for the year and sure enough, when we came to that portion of the bog, there were a couple in there.

The third bog, the upper, is a different story this year. While this one usually took the longest to drain and, because it has become overgrown with trees (in local parlance, "timber") only about half of it was attractive to shorebirds, though the grasspipers it sometimes attracted certainly made it worth scoping. Between the upper and middle bogs there was a breached dike (dam) with a gap of about 20 feet, through which the water ran out. I and few other birders sometimes had the fantasy of building a makeshift bridge across the gap so that we wouldn't have to walk around the entire middle bog just to get to the other side. On Thursday, that problem was solved:

It only took the excavator about an hour and a half to scoop mud from the middle bog and dump it into the gap, creating an oozing but passable bridge. The reason behind this muddy project is convoluted. Whitesbog was sold to the state many years ago and is technically part of Brendan Byrne Forest. Bob leases back the family's cranberry bogs from the state. Because of this he is subject to many arcane rules, one of which states that he is not allow to cut anything within the non-working bogs and reservoirs. However, since water is all important to cranberry farmer, he does retain water rights. Bob would eventually like to convert these reservoirs to working cranberry bogs and in order to do that, he'd have to clear out the upper bog. Since he can't cut down the timber (we call them "trees") he is going to kill them by flooding the bog. That should take a few years, I'd imagine. In the meanwhile, he obviously isn't going to draw down that bog. It should make for an interesting new habitat as the trees eventually die and it the whole bog becomes a swamp. Who knows what new birds it might attract? But in the meantime, this year we'll only have the lower and middle bogs to bird. But, to quote Meatloaf, "Two out of three isn't bad."

Green Heron

It usually isn't until the middle of  August that the grasspipers (American Golden-Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper) and other local rarities (White-rumped Sandpiper, Gull-billed Terns, Little Blue Herons) start to show up. But, since there is really nowhere else to go to find a variety of birds, Whitesbog is pretty much where I'll be for the next few weeks, enjoying the diversity that's there and looking for the rarities that always seem to show up.

I've been there 3 out of 4 days of this month. Here is what I've seen (and/or heard) so far:

45 Species Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Pied-billed Grebe Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Turkey Vulture Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker American Kestrel Eastern Wood-Pewee Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo American Crow Fish Crow Purple Martin Tree Swallow Barn Swallow White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird American Goldfinch Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Eastern Towhee Red-winged Blackbird Common Yellowthroat Prairie Warbler Northern Cardinal

Utah & Idaho: Trip Lists & Index

FLAMMULATED OWL

Shari & I joined 12 other heat-resistant birders for a NJ Audubon birding tour of Utah & Idaho, led by Scott Barnes and Linda Mack. The trip began Sunday night July 21 in Salt Lake City and ended there, after stays in Twin Falls and Pocatello, Idaho, on July 28. I heard Linda say that we covered about 2500 miles in the week or so we were birding. Hard to believe until I remember that it is 300 miles just to Twin Falls from Salt Lake.

Sawtooth National Forest
Photo: Shari Zirlin

This was Shari and my 2nd trip to Utah and the first to Idaho. What attracted me to the trip was the chance to see CASSIA CROSSBILL, which was recently split from the other crossbills of which there are 8 (I think) subspecies, and the chance to see FLAMMULATED OWL, which, frankly, I had never even heard of before I read Scott's plans for the tour.

Shari & I spent a couple of days in Salt Lake City before the tour began, doing touristy things, but we did get one bird that wasn't found by the group--California Quail. The weather was consistently hot--reaching 103 degrees on July 22 in Salt Lake City, their hottest day of the year, so far. Precipitation consisted of approximately 15 raindrops in American Falls, Idaho. It is so hot and dry there that while in Twin Falls, my weather app said it was raining while I stood outside, perfectly dry. The next morning, I saw the local weatherman explain that most of the rain evaporated before it ever reached the ground, or my head.

Everybody's trip list is inevitably a little different. Shari & I ended up with 157 species for the two states. The group list will probably be a few more than that number.

The following links will take you to the entries for the trip.

Salt Lake City
Gilgal Garden
Wasatch Mountains
Salt Lake City to Twin Falls
Rock Creek Road | Diamondfield Jack Campground | Shoshone Falls
Twin Falls | American Falls
Mud Lake | Market Lake
Kinney Creek Trail | Mink Creek Road | Curlew National Grasslands
Antelope Island | I-15 | Bear River MBR

The state lists

UTAH: 101 Species

Species      First Sighting

Canada Goose   Wiley Post Road

Mallard   Red Butte Arboretum

Green-winged Teal   Antelope Island SP

Redhead   Bear River MBR

Common Goldeneye   Liberty Park

Ruddy Duck   Bear River MBR

California Quail   Gilgal Garden

Ring-necked Pheasant   Bear River MBR

Pied-billed Grebe   Kennecott Reclamation Ponds

Eared Grebe   Antelope Island SP

Western Grebe   Lee Kay Ponds

Clark's Grebe   Lee Kay Ponds

Rock Pigeon   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Eurasian Collared-Dove   Gilgal Garden

Mourning Dove   Gilgal Garden

Black-chinned Hummingbird   Red Butte Arboretum

Broad-tailed Hummingbird   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Virginia Rail   Bear River MBR

Sora   Bear River MBR

American Coot   Liberty Park

Black-necked Stilt   Lee Kay Ponds

American Avocet   Lee Kay Ponds

Snowy Plover   Bear River MBR

Killdeer   Wiley Post Road

Long-billed Curlew   Antelope Island SP

Wilson's Phalarope   Lee Kay Ponds

Red-necked Phalarope   Antelope Island SP

Spotted Sandpiper   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Solitary Sandpiper   Bear River MBR

Willet   Antelope Island SP

Franklin's Gull   Lee Kay Ponds

Ring-billed Gull   Liberty Park

California Gull   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Forster's Tern   Lee Kay Ponds

Neotropic Cormorant   Lee Kay Ponds

Double-crested Cormorant   Lee Kay Ponds

American White Pelican   Lee Kay Ponds

Great Blue Heron   Lee Kay Ponds

Snowy Egret   Lee Kay Ponds

Cattle Egret   I-15 N, Brigham City

White-faced Ibis   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Turkey Vulture   Antelope Island SP

Swainson's Hawk   Kennecott Reclamation Ponds

Red-tailed Hawk   Big Cottonwood Canyon

FLAMMULATED OWL   Wasatch Mountain SP

Great Horned Owl   Antelope Island SP

Burrowing Owl   UT-30, Howell

Red-naped Sapsucker   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Downy Woodpecker   Liberty Park

Hairy Woodpecker   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Northern Flicker   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Western Wood-Pewee   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Dusky Flycatcher   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Say's Phoebe   Antelope Island SP

Western Kingbird   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Warbling Vireo   Red Butte Arboretum

Steller's Jay   Big Cottonwood Canyon

American Crow   Gilgal Garden

Common Raven   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Horned Lark   UT-30, Howell

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Red Butte Arboretum

Violet-green Swallow   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Bank Swallow   Antelope Island SP

Barn Swallow   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Cliff Swallow   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Black-capped Chickadee   Gilgal Garden

Mountain Chickadee   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Rock Wren   Antelope Island SP

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    City Creek Canyon Rd,

American Dipper   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Townsend's Solitaire   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Swainson's Thrush   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Hermit Thrush   Wasatch Mountain SP

American Robin   Red Butte Arboretum

European Starling   Lee Kay Ponds

House Finch   Liberty Park

Cassin's Finch   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Pine Siskin   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Lesser Goldfinch   Red Butte Arboretum

American Goldfinch   Red Butte Arboretum

Chipping Sparrow   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Lark Sparrow   Antelope Island SP

Dark-eyed Junco   Big Cottonwood Canyon

White-crowned Sparrow   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Vesper Sparrow   Antelope Island SP

Song Sparrow   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

Lincoln's Sparrow   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Yellow-headed Blackbird   Lee Kay Ponds

Western Meadowlark   Antelope Island SP

Red-winged Blackbird   Lee Kay Ponds

Brown-headed Cowbird   Antelope Island SP

Brewer's Blackbird   Liberty Park

Great-tailed Grackle   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

MacGillivray's Warbler   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Western Tanager   Big Cottonwood Canyon

Black-headed Grosbeak   Red Butte Arboretum

Lazuli Bunting   Red Butte Arboretum

House Sparrow   N Jimmy Doolittle Rd, Salt Lake City

IDAHO: 132 Species

Species               First Sighting

Canada Goose   Mud Lake WMA

Trumpeter Swan   Camas NWR

Gadwall   Camas NWR

American Wigeon   Camas NWR

Mallard   Shoshone Falls Park

Northern Pintail   Seagull Bay Recreation Area

Redhead   Mud Lake WMA

Bufflehead   Mud Lake WMA

Ruddy Duck   Mud Lake WMA

GRAY PARTRIDGE   Mud Lake WMA

Pied-billed Grebe   Market Lake WMA

Eared Grebe   Mud Lake WMA

Western Grebe   American Falls Reservoir

Clark's Grebe   American Falls Reservoir

Rock Pigeon   Rock Creek Road

Eurasian Collared-Dove   Malta City Park

Mourning Dove   Shoshone Falls Park

Common Nighthawk   N 2700 E, Twin Falls

White-throated Swift   Shoshone Falls Park

Black-chinned Hummingbird   N 2700 E, Twin Falls

Broad-tailed Hummingbird   Scout Mountain Campground

American Coot   Mud Lake WMA

Sandhill Crane   Camas NWR

American Avocet   Market Lake WMA

Killdeer   Old Highway 81, Malta

Marbled Godwit   American Falls Reservoir

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Market Lake WMA

Western Sandpiper   Seagull Bay Recreation Area

Long-billed Dowitcher   Market Lake WMA

Wilson's Snipe   Market Lake WMA

Wilson's Phalarope   Camas NWR

Spotted Sandpiper   Old Highway 81, Malta

Solitary Sandpiper   Camas NWR

Greater Yellowlegs   Old Highway 81, Malta

Willet   Camas NWR

Lesser Yellowlegs   Old Highway 81, Malta

Franklin's Gull   American Falls Reservoir

Ring-billed Gull   Pole Line Rd, Twin Falls

California Gull   American Falls Reservoir

Caspian Tern   Market Lake WMA

Common Loon   Mud Lake WMA

Double-crested Cormorant   American Falls Reservoir

American White Pelican   American Falls Reservoir

Great Blue Heron   Shoshone Falls Park

Snowy Egret   Mud Lake WMA

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Mud Lake WMA

White-faced Ibis   American Falls Reservoir

Turkey Vulture   2666 Old Highway 30 S, Malta

Osprey   Shoshone Falls Park

Golden Eagle   ID-81, Malta

Northern Harrier   Mud Lake WMA

Bald Eagle   Camas NWR

Swainson's Hawk   ID-81, Malta

Red-tailed Hawk   Porcupine Springs

Ferruginous Hawk   ID-81, Malta

Barn Owl   Ramsey Rd, American Falls

Burrowing Owl   N 3000 E, Twin Falls

Red-naped Sapsucker   Kinney Creek Trail

Downy Woodpecker   Lower Penstemon Campground

Hairy Woodpecker   Scout Mountain Campground

Northern Flicker   Thompson Flat Campground

American Kestrel   N 3000 E, Twin Falls

Western Wood-Pewee   Mud Lake WMA

Willow Flycatcher   Mud Lake WMA

Hammond's Flycatcher   Diamondfield Jack Campground

Gray Flycatcher   Kinney Creek Trail

Dusky Flycatcher   Lower Penstemon Campground

Cordilleran Flycatcher   Kinney Creek Trail

Western Kingbird   Mud Lake WMA

Eastern Kingbird   Seagull Bay Recreation Area

Loggerhead Shrike   ID-81, Malta

Plumbeous Vireo   Kinney Creek Trail

Warbling Vireo   Lower Penstemon Campground

Black-billed Magpie   2666 Old Highway 30 S, Malta

American Crow   Third Fork

Common Raven   E 2600 N, Twin Falls

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Shoshone Falls Park

Tree Swallow   Thompson Flat Campground

Violet-green Swallow   Thompson Flat Campground

Bank Swallow   Mud Lake WMA

Barn Swallow   45 S Main St, Malta

Cliff Swallow   Shoshone Falls Park

Black-capped Chickadee   Rock Creek Road

Mountain Chickadee   Thompson Flat Campground

Juniper Titmouse   Kinney Creek Trail

Bushtit   Kinney Creek Trail

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Thompson Flat Campground

Rock Wren   Rock Creek Road

Canyon Wren   Rock Creek Road

House Wren   Thompson Flat Campground

Marsh Wren   Camas NWR

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Kinney Creek Trail

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Thompson Flat Campground

Mountain Bluebird   Mink Creek Rd

Swainson's Thrush   Cherry Springs

American Robin   Thompson Flat Campground

Gray Catbird   Rock Creek Road

Sage Thrasher   ID-81, Malta

Cedar Waxwing   Hampton Inn, Twin Falls

Cassin's Finch   Thompson Flat Campground

CASSIA CROSSBILL   Thompson Flat Campground

Pine Siskin   Thompson Flat Campground

Lesser Goldfinch   Malta City Park

American Goldfinch   330 Canyon Crest Dr, Twin Falls

Grasshopper Sparrow   Buist Rd, Holbrook

Chipping Sparrow   Lower Penstemon Campground

Brewer's Sparrow   Curlew National Grassland

Lark Sparrow   Kinney Creek Trail

Fox Sparrow   Thompson Flat Campground

Dark-eyed Junco   Thompson Flat Campground

White-crowned Sparrow   Thompson Flat Campground

Vesper Sparrow   Mud Lake WMA

Savannah Sparrow   Market Lake WMA

Song Sparrow   Third Fork

Spotted Towhee   Kinney Creek Trail

Yellow-breasted Chat   Rock Creek Road

Yellow-headed Blackbird   Camas NWR

Western Meadowlark   2565 N 2800 E, Twin Falls

Bullock's Oriole   Highway 93, Twin Falls

Red-winged Blackbird   American Falls Reservoir

Brewer's Blackbird   Old Highway 81, Malta

Great-tailed Grackle   Seagull Bay Recreation Area

Orange-crowned Warbler   Scout Mountain Campground

MacGillivray's Warbler   Lower Penstemon Campground

Common Yellowthroat   Market Lake WMA

Yellow Warbler   Mud Lake WMA

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Thompson Flat Campground

Black-throated Gray Warbler   Kinney Creek Trail

Western Tanager   Diamondfield Jack Campground

Black-headed Grosbeak   Mud Lake WMA

Lazuli Bunting   Rock Creek Road

House Sparrow   45 S Main St, Malta