BONNER COUNTY CENTURY COUNT
May 31, 2005
A team of eight Coeur d'Alene
Auduboners eked out 104 species in the face of uncooperative weather during the
2005 Bonner County Century Count. Highlights included BOBOLINK, CASPIAN TERN,
SOLITARY SANDPIPER and AMERICAN BITTERN.
We stayed Monday night at Schweitzer ski area, and emerged from the lodge in
the dawn's early light to what was to be our nemesis for much of the day - high
winds. In spite of a few lightning flashes from dark clouds massing above the
high ridge of the basin, we set off up the trail, but had to retreat after a
half hour when the rain began. We did locate WHITE-CROWNED and FOX SPARROWS,
and WILSON"S WARBLER which as it turned out, we would not encounter
anywhere else this day. As we made our hasty retreat back down the mountain,
the rain begat a rainbow over the ski bowl that held promise that the day would
improve. Giving up on most of our hoped-for high-altitude species, we drove
down out of the rain, and around the northeast end of Pend Oreille Lake to
Johnson Creek, then birded our way back to Sandpoint via Denton Slough and
Sunnyside Road.
At Johnson Creek, we found AMERICAN REDSTART and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH in
addition to BULLOCK'S ORIOLES and 2 singing LEAST FLYCATCHERS. The
WESTERN GREBES at Denton Slough treated us to their choreographed courtship
rituals. BOBOLINK were conspicuous along Sunnyside, Shingle Mill and Selle
roads. We had checked off 87 species by the time we reached Sandpoint in
mid-afternoon, including all the expected warblers and vireos, but we were
still short on marsh birds and waterfowl.
At Sandpoint City Beach, a CASPIAN TERN appeared in a nearby group of
RING-BILLED and CALIFORNIA GULLS that we had already scoped through, and then
turned our backs on. From Sandpoint, we headed to Morton Slough to try to fill
in some of the gaps on our waterfowl list, and were surprised to find a pair of
SOLITARY SANDPIPERS foraging along the shore. This is fairly late for this
species, and we wonder if evidence of breeding in north Idaho will turn up
eventually because we certainly have suitable habitat.
We wrapped up the day in the productive Hoodoo Valley, finding VESPER SPARROW
as well as the marsh birds that had eluded us earlier in the day, such as MARSH
WREN and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. At one stop we had AMERICAN BITTERN, VIRGINA
RAIL and SORA all vocalizing. The bittern was a big hit, and brought many
attempts at imitation. Our final species of the day was COMMON GOLDENEYE on
Kelso Lake.
Notable misses were Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and Belted Kingfisher. Other
expected species that did not make an appearance were Northern Shoveler, Vaux's
Swift, Northern Harrier and Mountain Chickadee. We were short on raptors and
finches.
This completes our first circuit of the 5 northern counties. We won't be doing
a Century Count in Bonner County again until 2010. Maybe the weather will have
improved by then...
Lisa Hardy
Coeur d'Alene Audubon
Century Count Team: Kris Buchler, Janet Callen, Roland Craft, Dick Cripe, Lisa
Hardy, Stephen Johnson, Jan Severtson and Judy Waring
Complete List:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Western Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail
Sora
American Coot
Killdeer
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Caspian Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Western Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Cassin's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Steller's Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow
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