I have been tossing around a few ideas to shake things up and add a little zest to our regular meetings and “extra- curricular” get-togethers. These ideas include:

v A “Coffee Tasting” featuring shade grown and organic coffees that benefit the environment- or at a minimum, reduce impacts compared to conventional coffees.

v A “Wine Tasting” featuring domestic and international organic wines by makers who consider the environment in their wine making process.

v A “Chocolate Tasting” similar in concept to the above two ideas.

v A bird or wildlife related crafting get together- if people are interested.

v A holiday banquet geared toward fund-raising and FUN- including silent auctions and raffles!

In the field trip arena Roland and Janet are busy coming up with ideas for field trips and we are hoping to offer a few new venues this year including local areas and a couple of more “exotic” birding opportunities. We will also be setting up “Birding by Ear” and “Birding by Habitat” skill-building workshops for early summer.

You may also notice our regular meeting format changing a little. I would like to highlight a different bird species every meeting and provide life history information as well as audio sounds for the species. This will help us all start learn the intricacies of our local birds!

On the business front we will be pursuing collaborative funding for projects related to the avian community and the environment. We usually get at least some funding through this grant which totals between $500 and $900. If you have any ideas for projects please let me know. Our education committee does more than you’ll ever know in their efforts to educate our young people about birds and the environment. Their efforts will be highlighted in a future newsletter!

Lastly, in the latest survey I asked if people would be willing to contribute no more than $10 beyond their normal membership dues to put towards refreshments, raffle items, donations to speakers who travel to our meetings, etc. If you could make yourself a note to bring this donation to our first meeting, that would be wonderful! Anywhere between $5 and $10 would be greatly appreciated and will put to use! If you have items you would like to contribute to our raffle, please bring those as well.

Please feel free to contact me with any ideas, suggestions or concerns you may have. I can be reached by phone at (208) 661-9777 or email at

carriehugo@wildblue.net.

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts" - Rachel Carson

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Adopt-a-Highway

DATE: October 9, Saturday

PLACE: Mica Grange for the ritual fueling up with donuts and juice

TIME: 8:00 a.m.

Plan on about 1-2 hours. Long pants, long sleeves, and water are advisable. Come out and enjoy a fall morning and see if this is the time that one of us finds a treasure out there.

For more information call Mike Zagar 819-5115.

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Elk River

and Elk Creek Falls

Janet Callen & Roland Craft

Elk River View Point

Photograph by Lisa Hardy

May 1, 2010. Six Audubon birders and Mitzi the dog traveled through five counties, including Kootenai, Benewah, Latah, Shoshone and Clearwater, on our way to Elk River, Idaho. We were greeted with light rain, heavy rain, blowing rain, snow, sleet and an occasional glimpse of blue sky. However, with raincoats and umbrellas we traversed the three-mile trail to view the three waterfalls, which make up Elk Creek Falls. They are impressive at this time of the year. At the middle falls viewing platform we spotted eight elk grazing on a hillside so steep that any human trying to stand on it would have ended up in the creek.

We then journeyed to Elk River Reservoir where we spotted various waterfowl, including a female Red-breasted Merganser. A Cooper’s Hawk was seen on a short drive through town. Both birds were highlights of the trip.

After a stop for huckleberry ice cream we headed home. We saw American White Pelicans near Black Rock road in Kootenai County. The settling ponds at St. Maries also yielded a good variety of ducks, but The highlight was a small flock Bonaparte’s Gulls.

We didn’t see the Tufted Duck that was seen there between March 27 and April 9th

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The Bitterroot Valley

May 14, 15, 16: 2010

Janet Callen

Sunshine, warm weather, Mountain Bluebirds, Sandhill Cranes, Lewis’s Woodpeckers, bighorn sheep, a marmot and a mountain goat, along with some wood ticks and a raccoon were part of the Audubon field trip to Montana. No rattlesnakes showed up but maybe a little sunburn.

Eleven Audubon members and one guest journeyed to the Lee Metcalf NWR and seven sites described in the Bitterroot Valley Birding Trail map. We saw 100 species during the two full days of the trip. With so much to describe, I asked fellow travelers for their impressions.

Blodgett Canyon. – Photograph by Lisa Hardy

Phil and Judy

This was a trip where everything went right. The weather was picture perfect, the birding was very productive, the hotel was even better than expected, and the socializing plain fun. Each habitat we visited was different from the one before with new birds to tack on the list. We give it two thumbs up.

Dick Cripe

Great trip! Breath-taking scenery! Diverse habitat. It was fun taking short hikes rather than birding out of a car. Lewis’s Woodpecker was first for me, and we saw 427! of them. Also I haven’t seen very many Red-Naped Sapsuckers or Pileated Woodpeckers, so it was fun to see so many. Same with Great Egret, American Avocet, and Wilson's Phalarope - they are all on my life list - but I haven't seen many. The Mountain Bluebird we saw was very beautiful.

Lisa Hardy S0--my favorites?

Ø All the Lewis's woodpeckers flying around in the burned area, proves that some good can come of fires after all.

Ø The Great Horned owl up in the tree

Ø Mountain goat outlined on the rock bluff with the sky behind him

Ø All the spectacular scenery in the area.

Ø The croaking Sandhill Cranes in flight

Ø The gorgeous colors on the dabblers in the late afternoon sunlight : Cinnamon teal, Gadwall

Ø The amazingly graceful avocets

Ø heron rookery

Ø Cow Creek = Lewis’s Woodpecker Grand Central Station

Ø The ticks! and how everyone was very animated by their threat

Ø The mountain sheep - mountain goat

Ø Dinner at the hummingbird ranch

Theresa Potts
My favorite place was the ponds at Lee Metcalf.

Sandhill Cranes, avocets, phalaropes, numerous waterfowl and a raccoon.

A special thanks goes to Ronn Rich for finding the restaurant (Skalkaho Inn?) where we dined with hummingbirds and looked out on mountains and a small valley. I highly recommend a revisit in a year or two. There are more locations to explore.

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BONNER COUNTY BIG DAY

Lisa Hardy

Seven Auduboners from Coeur d'Alene set out Saturday morning, June 5, for a Big Day of birding in Bonner County, Idaho. After a brief morning rain shower, the weather turned pleasant and we tallied 113 species by dusk.

We started at Johnson Creek at the mouth of the Clark Fork, a rich riparian area, and by the time we headed north out of Clark Fork around 9 AM, we had picked up 63 species. From there, we drove up Trestle Creek to where a snow slide blocked the road, but we had climbed enough by that point to be in subalpine fir habitat. Next we headed back to the lake and birded Highway 200 from the Clark Fork driftyard to Sunnyside. A quick stop in Sandpoint for late afternoon pick-me-up milkshakes and a few urban species, and we headed to Morton Slough, where we reached the 100 mark around 6 PM.

Bird #100 was a Black-billed Magpie. We had at that point yet to tally a Red-winged Blackbird, which had us worried and perplexed, but we found them in the Hoodoo Valley, along with most of the other marsh species. We attempted unsuccessfully to find the Say's Phoebes and Sandhill Cranes reported by Earl Chapin a little over a week earlier. A little after sunset, we tallied our final bird of the day, a Common Nighthawk over Granite Lake.

Ducks were in short supply. We had some close calls, including an unidentified accipiter, possible sightings of Say's Phoebes, tentative crossbill flight calls, etc., but only missed a handful of expected common species, namely Ruffed Grouse, Lazuli Bunting, Western Meadowlark, and Red Crossbill. We changed the rules a bit this year to encourage more participation by those who do not usually bird by ear. This resulted in 50 of the 113 species being identified by every team member.

Here is the list - Bonner County, June 5, 2010:

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Gadwall

Mallard

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Common Merganser

Wild Turkey

California Quail

Pied-billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

Western 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

Spotted Sandpiper

Wilson's Snipe

Wilson's Phalarope

Ring-billed Gull

California Gull

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Common Nighthawk

Vaux's Swift

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Red-naped Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Western Wood-Pewee

Willow Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher

Hammond's Flycatcher

Dusky Flycatcher

Western Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Cassin's Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Gray Jay

Steller's Jay

Black-billed Magpie

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

N. Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Chestnut-b Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

House Wren

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

American Dipper

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Western Bluebird

Mountain Bluebird

Swainson's Thrush

American Robin

Varied Thrush

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

Savannah Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)

Black-headed Grosbeak

Bobolink

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Brewer's Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Bullock's Oriole

Cassin's Finch

House Finch

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch

Evening Grosbeak

House Sparrow

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BIGINNING BIRDING TRIPS

WITH LYNN SHERIDAN

Honeysuckle Beach

June 15 Hayden Lake Field Trip

At last we had a dry day between rainy ones! Linda Wright, Vera Taggert, Adela Sussman, Nicole Olson and her 3 children, Sydney, Erin and Heide met at the parking lot at Honeysuckle Beach for a morning of birding.

Our first sighting was a string of Canada Geese swimming in a long line, the larger adults at each end. Swirls of Tree, Violet-green and Barn Swallows swooped over water and field. Four male Mallard were sunning themselves on a dock. Lots of American Robin and Brewer’s Blackbird were foraging on the ground. The majestic flights of a Great Blue Heron and Red-tailed Hawk caught everyone’s eye. Swimmers were few, just 3 Bufflehead. The Olson children were very knowledgeable and helped identify a male Black-headed Grosbeak. Later we found the female. Other birds seen and heard were chickadee (species), Cedar Waxing, Song Sparrow, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Thank you everyone for coming, and to Adela for being my driver!

A walk in the woods

July 15, 2010

Adela Sussman kindly picked me up and drove me to Fairmont Loop and Hwy 95 where we met Vera Taggert, Nicole Olson and her 3 daughters: Sydney, Erin and Heidi. From there we drove to the Nature Conservancy parking lot in Cougar Bay

In the bay, which was filled with reeds, we scanned the scattered bird boxes but didn't see any birds using them. Many swallows were in flight, and on the wires. We identified Tree, Violet-green, Barn, and Rough-winged Swallows. The familiar "wichety wichety" song of the Common Yellowthroat was heard, but we couldn't see one. Many Red-winged Blackbirds were clinging to the fluffy cattail heads, but their familiar song was not heard.

Following the trail into the woods we found Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Black-capped Chickadee and a singing Swainson’s Thrush. An Osprey flew overhead as we returned to the cars.

Thank you, everyone---next time let/s remember to bring the mosquito repellent, and I need to learn more of the songs I heard.

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BIG YEAR LIST PROJECT

Lew Ulrey, Boise

In 2005 Idaho birders started the Big Year List Project, in which the first of each year we start a state “Big Year List” to be maintained at www.idahobirds.net under Facts and Figures. On the list we record the first date that each species of bird was found in each of the participating counties. This project would not be possible without the diligent work of the county compilers who maintain county Big Year Lists. As additions to the county lists accumulate, the compilers report those additions directly to me or via IBLE (a southern Idaho list serve). I then perform the clerical job of recording the additions on the state list.

So far in 2010, 30 of Idaho’s 44 counties have contributed to the Big Year List. Twelve counties just do not have compilers.

Look at the list of county compilers at www.idahobirds.net under Facts and Figures. Listed with each compiler’s name is a clickable link to his or her email. Interested persons could reach current compilers that way.

Editor’s note: As of August 20, 2010, 291 species of birds have been reported in Idaho. The top 8 counties are as follows: Ada (226), Custer (198), Gem (190), Latah (187) Canyon (186), Owyhee(186, Kootenai (186), Cassia (173)

Species reported in all 30 counties are: Northern Flicker, Black-billed Magpie, American Robin and European Starling

You can view Kootenai County “BIG YEARS” going back to 2002 on our website: http://cdaaudubon.org/KootenaiCo2010.htm

Benewah and Shoshone counties are also on our website. I compile Kootenai and Benewah Counties and Lisa Hardy compiles Shoshone County.

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ANNUAL PICNIC

AND NEW OFFICERS

Ed Buchler

On June 1, the chapter had its annual picnic at the Higgens Point pavilion. During the festivities, Ed Buchler, outgoing President, introduced the new officers to the members. For the next two years, your President will be Carrie Hugo and Secretary, Valerie Zagar. Ronn Rich has kindly consented to continue as our Treasurer. A short time after the picnic, Kathy Cousins accepted the position of Vice President. Meritorious Service Awards were presented to Jan Severtson, Eula Hickam, Janet Callen. Ed also received a gift from the membership for his service.

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ROGER YOUNG MEMORIAL COMPLETED

Ed Buchler

During the summer, the inscription honoring Roger Young was added to one of the dedication rocks at the east entrance to the Tubb’s Hill trail. Please go and spend a moment or two. As you look down the street above the inscription, you can see his earlier home at the end of the block.

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BONNER COUNTY BIG DAY

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