I counted 70 species in my assigned area during our first-ever winter bird count
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The storm of the year did not show up last weekend, as predicted, but put at least an inch and a half of snow on the ground to finally end rock hunting for the year. What a bummer — not enough snow or cold to help with the ice fishing dream and no place to gather rocks. Instead, I thought I’d check out wildlife in the St. Anthony area.
This early winter has been disappointing — cool nights in the 20s and days in the 30s. With no ice floating on the Henrys Fork, I saw a total of two Common goldeneyes and six Mallards. The only Trumpeter swans and Canada geese were at the Fun Farm Bridge. I did locate a Bald eagle and three muskrats near the Chester Dam. A large flock of lost Red-wing blackbirds, along with some starlings, were harvesting hawthorn berries along the river. No sign of waxwings.
Coming out from the dam, I witnessed a beautiful sunset and interrupted a couple of human lovebirds working on their relationship. I waved as I drove by and thought about stopping and giving them a standing ovation, but better angels prevailed.
Friday, December 20
As my wife and I were coming back from Christmas shopping in Idaho Falls this afternoon, we saw a field of harvested field corn with about 200 Trumpeter swans filling their bellies. With the temperatures in the 40s, the roads are nice for traveling. Monday’s two inches of snow pushed 12 Northern flickers to my backyard feeders. I will enjoy them for the next two months.
Tonight at 9:45, I went to check my rock saw and there were seven White-tailed deer in my raspberry patch eating old rotten squash. I wish my eyesight was as good as theirs. In the dark, they all cleared the fence without hitting it.
Saturday, December 21
The big day has arrived. Twelve birders met at Burger King to get our assignments to do the first-ever winter bird count. I was assigned to area 4, with two excellent birders, Mike and Brett. Our area took in Beaver Dick Park, Deer Parks Management area, the Menan Buttes and east of the Annis/Menan area.
Mike was the driver and knows the area well. Brett was the spotter, and I kept the record of each bird that we encountered.
Our first bird was a Black-billed magpie at Beaver Dick Park, where we also found a Belted kingfisher, a Ring-necked pheasant, a Northern shrike, a Great-horned owl, along with American goldfinches. In the next six hours, we traveled 60 miles by vehicle and two miles by foot locating 41 species of birds.
When we got to Deer Parks WMA, we observed a large flock of mixed Red-winged blackbirds, Pine siskins, House finches and American goldfinches being chased by two Northern harriers. They were feeding in a field of mixed grains and dried sunflowers.
“Bill, it is your job to count them,” Mike commented as we watched the birds moving through the maze of seed-producing vegetation.
“Well, I’m sure there is a few hundred,” I replied.
“I think you are a little on the conservative side,” Brett commented.
While we were discussing the flock, I ignored a message that was coming in – BIG mistake and I forgot about it. We settled on a count of 1,500 blackbirds, 200 House finches, 25 siskins, 220 goldfinches and one Yellow-headed blackbird.
After we finished our route and got back to Burger King to meet with the other teams, I checked my messages:
“First time I’ve ever had a white breasted nuthatch in my feeders.”
It was a message from a friend, along with four pictures of a very rare bird for our area. It had disappeared for a few hours, but it has still been coming back for a few days. It was one of the rare birds, including a Thick-billed longspur, a Yellow-rumped warbler and a Lesser goldfinch found by other birders for the day.
It was a successful count. We had a total of 63 species for the day and 70 overall for the week.
I am looking forward to helping on the Howe Christmas Bird Count that will happen after the calendar changes to 2025. It is always a fun one for me.
Keep the messages of odd birds seen at your feeders. It is important to know what you are seeing. Thanks to all of you that have submitted reports to me.
