Yesterday I had the distrinct privilege to take an Avimor history tour with Red & Polly Ward (both 87 years old) and Tom Blessinger. Shon and Cliff from Avimor accompanied us, with Cliff providing much of the expert driving. These folks know a lot about the history of the land and the people that lived and worked it. We went four-wheeling over thousands of acres stopping at homestead and school sites marked only by a few locust trees and maybe some old pieces of rock foundation. We heard non-stop stories about the people and places all day long. It was absolutely fascinating and awe inspiring. I hope the booklet I put together on it will do it some amount of justice while preserving a wonderful piece of Idaho history before those that remember pass on.
Along the way, of course I kept track of the bird species I was seeing. I saw 25 species. Not bad for birding not being my primary focus. The birds of the day had to be the large covey of adult and juvenile Gray Partridge (known locally as "Huns", which is short for "Hungarian Partridge". These were seen at what I've been calling the Chinese Well Riparian area just on the west side of Hwy 55 across from the Avimor construction trailer. I have only seen Gray Partridge at Avimor one other time on Broken Horn Road, so this sighting was pretty cool. It is especially exciting to see such a successful and large brood, giving me hope that the Gray Partridges continue to multiply even as a highly hunted upland gamebird.
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