Canyon Marsh and Old Mission State Park

Submitted by Ted Smith, Coeur d’Alene Audubon Chapter President

Seven of us met up Saturday, May 17th for a pop-up field trip.  Sally Gundlach, Mark and Bradly Launder, John and Susan Lee, and Ron Miller joined Ted Smith for this adventure.  We started birding at the north end of the Canyon Road marsh area.  Birding here was very good and we saw about 29 species. Our second stop (included in the 29 species tally) was on the Hardy Loop. Here we were entertained by a very busy marsh wren and a good variety of ducks that seemed to appear and disappear among the grasses. We didn’t find any buntings or sparrows along the loop road like we normally do but we did entertain some of the local residents with our 3 vehicle train of slow moving cars.

We found American white pelicans on a pond at the south end of the marsh.  We also got to watch a buteo soaring quite high above us that no one could definitively identify. Some research after I got home led me to think this may have been a broad-winged hawk. A very unusual species for our area but one that is showing up with increasing frequency. But we didn’t get a good enough look to be sure. The cormorant rookery was quite busy and it was fun to watch them come and go.  

Birding at Old Mission State Park was slow but we did see a couple of warblers and heard a few others.

We took a detour heading home and drove the Tamarack Ridge road to look for Bobolinks. We didn’t see any but this took us to River Road so we birded our way back up towards the freeway.  This turned out to be a good decision as we found a lazuli bunting and a pair of Wilson’s phalaropes in the process.  It was a fun day and we totaled 44 species.