Ask the Avimor Bird Guy...hummingbirds in Nampa?

From JoAnn in Boise:

A friend of ours in Nampa put up a hummingbird feeder this last year, but never had a single hummingbird come to it. Are there no hummingbirds in Nampa?

Avimor Bird Guy:

That is really strange. There must be some simple explanation.

First off, I know Nampa has hummingbirds as I grew up there. My in-laws also live there and regularly get Black-chins at their feeders; not as many as I get at my home in the foothills, but they still get a steady flow of them from Spring to Fall.

Let's ask your friend what color his/her feeder is. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color of the feeder spout; the little flower shaped part where the bird sticks in its bill. My wife, with a lot more concern for appearance and taste than I have, gave me a very attractive green glass hummingbird feeder for Father's Day to replace the all-to-conspicuous normal red ones that hummers actually like. It had all kinds of decorative ornaments hanging off of it and was very pretty. I put it up, but never once did I see a hummingbird approach it. I think it was simply the wrong color.

Other things that may impede hummers from coming could be:

* the nectar recipe - it may not be what they want. Check out a simple and proven recipe here.

* proximity to cover and perching place - As a kid I thought hummers spent their entire life flying except when they sat on their nests at night. Wrong! Hummers actually spend 80% of their time perched. I watch them feed for a couple minutes and then fly to my tree and perch on the branches for extended periods. A suitable place to perch nearby might be more inviting to the hummingbird.

* Are there flowers nearby that hummers like? Maybe your friends do actually live in a hummingbird dead-zone where there are not enough food sources for them to even venture into the area. I wonder if there are geographic reasons that make hummers go around that area. I kind of doubt this though. I've read the hummingbirds will often fly over areas from a fairly high altitude and will drop down if they spot a feeding source. Perhaps planting some native columbine or agastache around the yard will create a hummingbird frenzy! http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html

Maybe other readers know why hummingbirds aren't coming to visit your friend...Thoughts?

Red-winged Blackbirds in late Fall

Yesterday morning on my bird walk into work I heard the familiar Spring singing and calling of Red-Winged Blackbirds. "This is the wrong time of year to be hearing this!" I said to myself. I didn't see any of their familiar black silhouettes on the cattails or bulrushes. Whipping my head all around I couldn't tell right away were their sounds were coming from. Finally, I spotted them high up on the power lines singing their hearts out in the morning sun. They all appeared to be males with good looking feathers in bold colors.

Now I know Red-wings flock together in winter and will even spend the winter in nearby areas. I'm just wondering about the behavior I saw. Do males flock together exclusively? Was I seeing a group of young males just coming into their manly plumage and migrating/flocking a little late? Any experts on Red-wings out there that can enlighten me?

Review: Peterson Field Guide

The Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America is the the 100 year birthday edition celebrating the late Roger Tory Peterson. It combines the Eastern and Western field guides into one larger version. While it does Mr. Peterson's legacy justice, it is also very progressive in its approach; this is the first field guide I have seen that embraces the worldwide web as it provides website address info for video podcasts and other fun birding stuff.

The list price for this field guide is $26. I bought it for an embarrassingly low $4.19 online from an online book dealer that must buy and sale books in bulk like Fannie Mae buys and sales home mortgages. I just got a treasure for cheap!

I like the beautiful and durable vinyl cover. I really love the "One-Page Index" on card-stalk as the very first page of the book. They must have been spying on how I use my field guides to give it such importance. The quick indices feature of field guides get used more than any other page. Another handy quick look-up feature is the color coded bottom of the pages that lumps similar species together. The colors are visible from the edge of the book too.

The introductory pages of this Peterson guide is one of the most interesting and readable of all the field guides I have seen. I actually enjoyed reading it and I learned a few pointers that will help me be a better birder.

The plates of species paintings have been enhanced, updated, and sometimes replaced based on newer and better information. The artistic style has remained true to the Peterson genre and deserves to carry on his name. Roger's son wrote part of the intro and explained that his dad made every effort to capture the "perfect" bird for each species. This artwork is indeed

fabulous and extremely helpful in identification.

In comparison with my trusty Sibley's guide, I still prefer the overall layout of Sibley's over the plates with multiple species shown. Peterson was apparently the innovator of the little arrows pointing to the most relevant identification characteristics. I think Sibley took it another step forward in evolution by adding a snippet of text explaining what the arrows are for. Peterson's arrows almost seem funny and out of place in comparison, but they are still helpful. This Peterson guide, like Nat-Geo's, does show more plumage varieties than does Sibley's. The taxonomic order and descriptive paragraphs are pretty standard, but the relative rarity index is prominently noted on the upper right of each entry.

Other really cool features of the new Peterson guide include:

* Several pages of silhouettes. Every avid birder knows how often you only see silhouettes and a guide like this will be helpful.

* In the back are more detailed range maps in taxonomic order with additional species information. I love maps!

* The life list checklist in the back has enough space to write in the date the bird was seen, which is better than Nat-Geo's checkbox. But again, this is a throw-back to the days when life lists were kept in your field guide, which seems irrelevant in my world where I keep my lists and reports on eBird. I'm sure that long-time Peterson users appreciate it though.

My recommendation: This is a must-have guidebook. It may be too large to use as a guide in the field, but definitely a primary go-to reference book for bird identification.

2009 Refuge Photography Winners

I admire good photography, especially when it captures a "moment". Check out these amazing photographs from our national wildlife refuges. The 2009 winning photo shown above came from the place I just birded last weekend.

Idaho Birder: Steve Bouffard

Steve Bouffard
Boise, Idaho

Steve Bouffard on the right at Yellowstone, with Attila Bankovics, a visiting ornithologist from Hungary.

How and when did you get your start in birding?

I started around 1960 when I lived in Vermont. I was interested in animals from day one. My parents owned some land in northern Vermont and I roamed the woods as much as I could. Following undergrad college I did a few years in the US Navy stationed on a ship in Gaeta, Italy. Unfortunately, I did not bird while I cruised the Mediterranean, visiting most of the countries adjacent to the sea except those in Africa. I do remember seeing White Storks on rooftops in Turkey. Now it would cost me a fortune to retrace those travels.

How long have you been birding in Idaho?

I’ve been birding in Idaho ever since I moved here in 1984.

How often do you go birding? And where do you regularly go birding?

I don’t make trips (even locally) very frequently now. My most concentrated efforts are when I am travelling in other parts of the country. But where ever I am and whatever I am doing, I am always aware of the birds around me, mostly by their calls.

Where is your favorite place to bird in Idaho? In the U.S.? in the world?

I’m partial to Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge since I lived there for 8 years. I birded almost daily there, sometimes rather casually, like walking back & forth to the office. If I wasn’t wearing binoculars I was always listening. I try to make it back several times every year.

Do you have any secret birding hotspots that may be yet unknown to Idaho birders that you would finally be willing to share with us?

I don’t have any secret spots. I would share any locational info with other birders, unless I thought that the presence of people would be detrimental to the birds.

How would you describe yourself as a birder? A “watcher”, a “lister”, both, or something else?

I guess I am more of a watcher. I keep ABA area, Idaho, and Minidoka NWR lists, but I don’t keep annual lists. One of these days I am going to put together my world list. I sometimes chase rarities, but not too far. However, I do seek out new species avidly when birding new areas.

What kind of birding equipment do you use?

Brunton 7.5X43 Epochs & Brunton 8X32 Eterna for a backup. I have a 80mm Fujinon and a 60mm Kowa scope. I use the bigger stuff when birding from the car and the smaller stuff when I travel by plane. I like the Bruntons because they focus down to 3-4 feet which is useful for butterfly ID. I also have a BirdJam with NA bird songs.

How do you keep track of your bird observations? And why?

So far I have just used notebooks & checklists. Most of my records are presence rather than numbers. I need to get my act together and get the info into eBird – might be a good winter project.

What is your favorite bird sighting and what is the story behind it?

It was in September 2001 in southeastern Siberia at Daurski State Biosphere Reserve. I sat in a blind from before light to around noon. It was a beautiful sunrise and I watched & photographed thousand of ducks, geese and cranes as close as 30 yards. The highlight was having 5 species of cranes in the field at one time; Demoiselle, Hooded, Common, White-naped and Siberian. There are few places in the world where that is possible. I was there under the sponsorship of the International Crane Foundation on a mission to suggest ways to reduce crane depredations on grain crops. Some 55,000 cranes and thousands of geese and ducks stage there every fall. Our advice was successful in reducing crop damage in subsequent years.

That sounds like fascinating work. Can you direct us to any publications or websites to learn more about your work with the International Crane Federation related to crop depredation?

Here are the literature citations for my publications dealing with crop depredations and cranes. Only the one from the African Conference is on-line at the International Crane Foundation. The other two will probably be added to their on-line publications in the future. I have a PDF files of the other papers if you want them.

ICF website is http://www.savingcranes.org/

See also North American Crane Working Group http://www.nacwg.org/

Bouffard, S. H. 1996. Crop depredations by sandhill cranes. pages 545-552 in R. D. Beilfuss, W. R. Tarboton, and N. N. Gichuki, eds. Proceedings 1993 African crane and wetland training workshop. Internatl. Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI.

Bouffard, S. H., J. E. Cornely, and O. A. Goroshko. 2005. Crop depredations by cranes at Duarsky State Biosphere Reserve, Siberia. Proceedings North American Crane Workshop 9:145-149.

Goroshko, O. A., J. E. Cornely, and S. H. Bouffard. 2008. Reduction of crop depredations by cranes at Daursky State Biosphere Reserve, Siberia. Proceedings North American Crane Workshop 10: 65-70.

For the past 7-8 years I have been a speaker and tour guide at the Othello (WA) Crane Festival held every year in late March.

Which birding publications, websites, blogs do you read and recommend?

Publications: Birding and Birder’s World (others are good too just can’t afford all of them)

Listserves: IBLE; Birding Community E-Bulletin from the National Wildlife Refuge Association
(there are other sites that I browse now and then)

Which is your favorite field guide and why?

I like Sibley’s guide, but it is too big to lug in the field so it usually stays in the car. In the field, if I bring a book, it is Kaufman’s or National Geographic. I especially like Kaufman’s since it fits in the back pocket of my blue jeans. I also like his Spanish version; it has come in handy for leading field trips at Minidoka NWR several times.

Do you speak Spanish?

No I cannot – I just used Kaufman’s Spanish guide when I have tour participants who cannot speak English.

Let me know if you are having a tour with Spanish speakers and I'll come!

What do you have in your home library birding reference set?

I have a 7x4 foot bookcase overfilled with bird books on kinds of all avian topics; field guides, where to bird guides, books on specific families, basic biology, bird song, and more. I tell my wife that birders can never have enough bird books! We have an agreement - she doesn’t complain about my books and I don’t complain about her iris and other flower books!

Other than field guides, what top five books would you recommend that beginning birders have on their shelf?

a. Kaufman’s Advanced Birding
b. Birder’s Guide to Idaho
c. a guide specializing on gulls
d. a guide specializing on shorebirds
e. a guide to sparrows (or maybe warblers?)

Do you have any formal bird-related education background? If so, what is it?

BA in Zoology from University of Vermont and MS in Wildlife Ecology from Colorado State. I’ve had courses in Avian Biology, Waterfowl Management, and Game Bird Management. I never had an actual course in Ornithology, although the avian biology course was about as close as you can come to it.

If a fellow birder had a question about a bird, do you consider yourself an expert (or at least proficient) on any specific family of birds?

I’d stop short of calling myself an expert. I can identify most of the local birds by sight or sound, but if comes down to the stage of molt, accidental species, or hybrids, I might have to defer to others.

What do your foresee in the future of the birding past-time?

Birding is only going to increase. It’s a great way to get away alone, or with friends and family and enjoy nature. You can do it anywhere with minimal equipment. There’s no license needed, no seasons, no bag limits and it still has the thrill of the chase. It can be rigorous or leisurely, competitive or relaxing. Plus the guide books are getting better as we learn more about the birds, their molts and migration patterns. At some point we may have to limit access to some certain areas to reduce disturbance to birds and habitat – but by the time birding becomes that popular, birders will have become a major economic, political & environmental influence on resource management issues.

The National Wildlife Refuge System has begun placing more emphasis on serving the birding communities the past few years and we will see more benefits of that effort in the future. We also need to involve more people. Kaufman’s Spanish bird guide is a great start, as is the ‘birding for the blind’ program I started at Minidoka NWR.

Are you involved with any local or national birding organizations? If so, which ones?

Audubon, SIBA, Peregrine Fund, The Trumpeter Swan Society, International Crane Foundation, IBO, National Wildlife Refuge Association , North American Crane Working Group

What is your nemesis bird?

There’s more than a couple I’ve missed a time or two, but the ones that stand out are Montezuma Quail and Brown Jay. I’ve searched for the quail multiple times to no avail. Missed the jay a couple times also – last time after driving for 3-4 hours at the crack of dawn, we arrived to have other birders say the jays just flew across the Rio Grande 5 minutes ago. Oh well, if every bird was a sure thing, it wouldn’t be as much fun, nor would I have as good an excuse to go back!

Map of eBird sightings of Montezuma Quail.

Map of eBird sightings of Brown Jay.

What is/was your career?

In college I worked for Vermont Fish and Game & Colorado Department of Wildlife on temporary jobs. In Vermont it was with Wood Ducks and other cavity nesting waterfowl; in Colorado it was with Pelicans. I worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service from 1977 until 2008, when I retired. From 1977 – 1984 I was biologist at Ruby Lake NWR in northeastern Nevada. There I worked mostly with Canvasback & Redheads, but also with cranes and swans. From 1984 - 2000 I was biologist for the Southeast Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Pocatello, working at Camas, Bear Lake, Grays Lake and Minidoka NWRs. During this period I became involved heavily with cranes and trumpeter swans. The last few years of my career I was manager at Minidoka NWR.

Anything about your family you’d like to share with us?

My wife is not a birder, but she appreciates and likes to watch all wildlife, and that is fine with me. Everyone should be free to appreciate nature however it fits them, as long as they do appreciate nature.

What are your plans for retirement?

My wife is still working so I do most of the gardening (flowers & vegetables) and whatever housework gets done. My wife wins ribbons and medals for her irises. We take care of our granddaughter every weekend and occasionally during the week. With another grandchild on the way this effort will probably increase. I do some limited volunteering – I don’t want to lock myself into a schedule – I just left a daily schedule. I’m still ivolved with conservation issues at Minidoka and other refuges. When I can play hooky from domestic chores I go birding, butterflying, or visiting old friends. I do several 4th of July Butterfly Counts (analogous to CBCs) every summer and am the coordinator for the Camas & Minidoka NWR counts. For exercise I go for walks, where I have occasionally been known to stop for a pint of ale to fight off dehydration!

Any funny birding experiences you could tell us?

About 15 years ago Marty Collar and I made a trip to Arizona. While birding in the Paton’s yard in Patagonia we scoped out some birds in the trees around their place, checking out his one particular kingbird that didn’t look quite right, which we eventually agreed was a Western. This lady next to us called it a Tropical Kingbird. We politely pointed the field marks the made it a Western and promptly got soundly and loudly berated for our ignorance of bird identification. We just looked at each other, chuckled a little and went back to watching the hummingbirds. We agreed that the lady needed a Tropical Kingbird for her life list and by golly, that was what it was going to be. If you know Marty, he is very conservative about calling out an ID unless he has studied it up and down and knows exactly what it is. Well 4-5 years later Marty and Greg Rice found a Tropical Kingbird at Camas NWR. I called Marty and asked him if it was the Patagonia subspecies of Tropical Kingbird – which got a good laugh out of him. I later told Greg the story and got another loud laugh. Greg wrote a story of finding the bird with Marty. It’s a riot – it reads like the Keystone Kops of birders. That they got somewhat excited trying to get documentation is an understatement. (Greg's amazing and hilarious story can be found here on IBLE post 4761 from 2002)

Birders definitely should have to be studied into a rare sighting rather than talked out of one. Interestingly enough, I too had my own funny birding identification experience in Marion Paton's backyard in Patagonia, Arizona. You can read about it here.

Anything else that you would like to humbly brag about? Your mission in life as birder?

I started a “Birding for the Blind" program when I was at Minidoka. It was all by sound and the participants loved it – so did the tour guides. Ask Chuck Trost & Mike Munts how they felt after leading a trip. Lately I have been putting my efforts into getting the program going throughout the Refuge System, rather than leading field trips. Some refuges are doing it, but I need to start it around here again. We ran one tour at the MK Center several years ago and it went OK, but it is not a good site – too much background noise & too many other people. I need an agency or group to sponsor the program and a safe walking path – relatively quiet, fairly level, no obstacles, no bikes etc. Anyone interested in helping?

The Birding for the Blind sounds like a wonderful program. Can you tell us more about how and why you started it?

In summer 2000 I was invited to lunch at an outdoor training session in Lake Walcott State Park sponsored by LIFE (Living Independently for Everyone), a group dedicated to keeping people with disabilities active and mobile. Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Walcott State Park had worked with LIFE before, cost-sharing a wheelchair accessible fishing platform the previous year. The training session was on recreational things people with visual impairments could do with their families - stuff like large print playing cards, Braille Scrabble, etc. Except when sleeping, I am never not birding, so while I was waiting for lunch and listening to the presentations, I was mentally clicking off the birds singing in the Park around me. Suddenly I was struck by the idea birding by ear was a perfect family activity for visually impaired people. This group is among the most sedentary segment of our population, but there was no reason that with a little help they couldn't enjoy being among nature as much as anyone else. I didn't mention it to anyone until I thought it through and in 2001 submitted a challenge-cost-share grant proposal to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service which was funded. We started the program in 2002 and continued it till through 2007 when I retired. Everyone (participants & tour leaders) loved it.

How can more of us Idaho Birders (and hopefully birders worldwide that are reading this) help out and promote this program?

It is easy to do. You need a safe place, that is relatively quiet and has singing birds. You need a cooperating agency to find and get the participants to the site. You need 4-6 tour leaders and some props for 'feel and tell'. At least 1 or 2 leaders should know the local bird songs. Start with introducing the tour leaders, then an intro to the site, an intro to birds using the props, and an intro to bird songs, followed by the field trip. This program can be done relatively cheaply with volunteers anywhere. I have some guidelines that will help anyone wishing to start such a program and will talk over the phone or email with anyone who is interested.

Thanks for the interview Steve. Your responses have been fascinating, informative and inspiring!

Avimor Blogger on the Road

I have a nephew in American Fork, Utah that was baptized this weekend, so the Avimor Bird Blogger family loaded up the Honda Odyssey mini-van and cruised down to our southern neighbor. We weren't in any hurry on Friday going or Sunday coming, so we made some family adventure stops that included heavy doses of birding.

We decided to make City of Rocks be a stop on our way. Awesome! Spectacular! Amazing! All appropriate words to describe that scenic place that I had never even heard of until other Idaho birders mentioned it earlier this year. (And I've lived in Idaho off and on for 19 of my 32 years.) In fact, it was so much fun, that my birder father-in-law, Lynn Davenport decided to caravan with us on the way home from Utah to make another stop at this Idaho hidden treasure. (He's been in Idaho almost all of his 63 years and had also never been there before.) My kids loved hiking around and climbing on the really cool rock formations. They endured my birding well on this trip. Jessica took the picture above of my oldest three while the baby napped in the car. I was up in the pinyon pines and junipers looking for birds of course!

Given the season, it was not particularly birdy, but the birds we did see were good ones in the sense that I don't get to see them all that often. For example, Western Scrub-Jays and a couple Loggerhead Shrikes were both Idaho firsts for me. We also enjoyed two Golden Eagles and a Prairie Falcon, which were Idaho first of years on my list. We originally ID'd the Prairie as a Peregrine, but Lynn had longer scope time and after further review of color pattern coupled with habitat, it was most likely a Prairie Falcon. A pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves in the town of Oakley, Idaho were also Idaho first-of-years for me. Other fun-to-see birds seen in the City of Rocks area were Gray Partridges, Mountain Chickadees, and Townsend's Solitaires.
Friday afternoon we met up with Lynn and my sister-in-law at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge just off of I-15 near Brigham City, Utah. We got to see 21 species of cool birds, like the Short-eared Owl and five types of Grebes. My non-birding wife is actually really good at spotting birds. She pointed out several Long-billed Curlew feeding on a nearby bank that I would have driven right past. The bird of the weekend had to be my life bird #313, a Bonaparte's Gull!

Birding Laughs #3

When I lived in Mesa, Arizona, we weren't too far from Red Mountain and the Salt River and some great recreational areas. Granite Reef Recreation was just five minutes north of my home and a favorite spot for getting started in bird watching.

One Saturday morning I headed out as the sun rose. I was surprised to see a couple of vehicles in the parking lot already as I usually had the place to myself.

"Probably a couple of early riser fishermen" I supposed.

I headed up river on a little game trail, ducking under the overgrown thorny Mesquite trees, trying to avoid whipping myself in the face with salt brush. I heard some sound coming from the other side of a large bush just ahead of me. Perhaps it was an Abert's Towhee scratching at the ground. Very stealthily I crept around the bush to sneak up on it without spooking it.

As I rounded the bush, to my utter shock and dismay I had come upon two adult plumage-less homosapien bipeds mating canine style.

"Pardon me!" I squeaked out as I turned away from the scene before me.

As I scampered off as quickly as I was able, I could hear the attractive golden-crowned double-breasted hip-swinger complaining vociferously to the drab male about his choice of location for their little outdoor rendezvous.

I was embarrassed for them and for myself, though I'm still chuckling...nervously.

Where have they been?

Last week I had a post about where my favorite spring and summer birds are now. Today I'm asking, where have my favorite winter birds been all summer. Here is what I've discovered:

White-crowned Sparrow - these cute sparrows can be found summering in Northern Idaho and Montana, but are more typically found in the cooler north of Canada and Alaska. They must like it cold!

Dark-eyed Junco - I have seen Juncos in the mountains during the summer in the areas near Idaho City, and will spend the summer in similar mountain and forested areas where the temperatures tend to be cooler. These guys do like Canada and Alaska's climate during the warmer months in the States.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets - while they are occasionaly seen around here during the summer, they too like the cooler mountain climates during the summer and are found across Alaska and Canada.

Red Crossbills - these pine seed eaters can actually be found from central Canada all they way into Central America year round. From my experience, they like the cooler mountain areas and are seen more frequently in the Treasure Valley during the winter. Cementeries with large spruce trees with lots of pine cones are great places to see Crossbills. Keep you eye out for Crossbills with white wing bars. Last year we had many winter sightings of White-winged Crossbills at Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell.

Avimor Right Now

2nd snow of the season. Growing up in this area as kid, it always seemed to snow on Halloween night. I guess with all the global warming, the snow came a week early!

Up on the roof

I have just about wet myself twice this week! Walking out of my house to go to work just before sunrise, a Great Horned Owl dives off his perch on my roof...scaring me to death. After my initial fright, I am quickly restored to my natural fascination; admiring the coolness of a Great Horned Owl wanting to use my roof from which to hunt. All I ask is that it not leave its white-wash and sticky pellets.

Review: National Geographic Field Guide

National Geographic: Field Guide to the Birds of North America

I picked up this field guide after about a year of really being into birding. I was advised by many other birders to have at least one other field guide to compare and contrast when trying make a tricky identification. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America has been my go-to field guide for the last five years, but because I tend to lose my field guides so frequently out in the field, the Nat-Geo field guide has steadily served as a solid back-up.

The cover picture shown above is of the 5th edition. I actually have had a copy of the 4th edition. I have seen that the 5th edition sports thumb tabs, which is a nice touch. There may be other changes to the 5th edition that may make some of my comments below irrelevant. Please bear with me as I free-form ramble about my thoughts of the advantages and disadvantages of the Nat-Geo Field Guide.

The cover of this guide is a glossy card stock with a plastic coating intended to help it weather the weather. It has for the most part, but the plastic is starting to separate a bit. Other field guides come with a more vinyl-type covering that seems a little more durable.

I like the thumbnail-sized range maps for each of the species next to its entry. The maps do show state/province boundaries which I prefer. The species are listed in taxonomic order which is pretty much standard anymore. Some field guides list birds by similar shape, size, or color, which may work for some, but drives me nuts.

The artistic renderings of the birds is quite good. In my early days of birding, I thought it was too busy for my eye, too much detail, especially compared to Sibley. Sibley's guidebooks when compared side-by-side are very focused on highlighting the differentiating features. Sibley intentionally leaves the non-essential parts of the birds somewhat washed out in his paintings. With a little more birding experience under my belt, the detailed artistic renderings in Nat-Geo are actually quite impressive.

The descriptive paragraph is pretty standard, giving information about the physical appearance of males, females, and juveniles. It includes song/call onomatopoeia and a mention of range and frequency. I still prefer the Sibley layout overall with the horizontal line separating the species as it lends to a more simple and intuitive feel. The plates with multiple species paintings laid out on them often felt too busy for me. To its credit, Nat-Geo does appear to show a few more plumage variations than does Sibley's.

I like Nat-Geo's "Quick-find" Index in the back. I just wish it was the very last page rather than being found just before the artists' credits. Sibley's Quick Index is in very back and made of card-stock paper. Because it is a different paper type it is really easy to find quickly, as it should be. The regular index in Nat-Geo is user-friendly enough and also includes check boxes for you to mark which species you have seen. This must be a throw-back to the days before eBird where the average birder kept his life list in his field guide. It almost seems unnecessary in my world now, but I am certain there are lots of birders out there that still like this feature.

Price: as low as $9 + shipping online

So my overall recommendation on the National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America is that every birding should have a copy of it...at least as a back-up.

Let it Snow!

Avimor is getting its first snow of the season right now. Bring on the winter birding!

My lunch-time walk revealed that American Kestrels, Northern Flickers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrows aren't afraid of a little snow flurry.

Eagle Informer...bird feature

For those folks living in the 83616 zip code in Eagle, Idaho, you are likely familiar with the monthly mailer called the Eagle Informer. It's a nice little community news and calendar magazine. The editor has asked me to provide her with a featurette on birdwatching in the area. She was tipped-off to my birding passion by my event submittals for the Avimor Bird Walks and she discovered this birding blog.

This month's edition will have a little section I wrote up about some fun ways to attract wild birds to your backyard along with some tips about which birds you are likely to see at your feeder during the late fall and winter.

If you live outside of the 83616 zip code, you can pick up a copy of the Eagle Informer at Rembrandt's Coffee House on Eagle Rd. in downtown Eagle on October 31st. This month's cover will feature Idaho's State Bird, the Mountain Bluebird.

Quick Observation!

Tonight on my walk home from work, I noticed a Northern Flicker whipping from roof top to roof top. I had never seen this type of behavior so I stopped a second and watched it through my binoculars (yes, I carry my binoculars with me just about everywhere...and yes, it is nerdy).

The flicker was gleaning Box Elder Bugs off the roofs and chowing down on them. This time of year, invasions of Box Elder Bugs are pretty common.

I'm no avian biologist, but I can tell you with certain confidence that Flickers have no sense of taste. How can I make such a bold scientific statement? Today we had a Box Elder Bug in our sales office and I squished it in a tissue and threw it away in the trash basket under my desk. With in seconds the smell of Box Elder Bug guts was so overwhelming I had to get it out of the room. If it smelled that bad, logic has it that it would taste worse.

Idaho Birder: Jim Holcomb

Jim Holcomb

Nampa, ID

How and when did you get your start in birding?

It seems that I have always been interested in birds, growing up in rural Michigan with woods and lakes a big part of my childhood memories. It wasn't until my junior year in college in 1961 and after completing a course in ornithology that I began keeping a list of birds seen.

How often do you go birding? And where do you regularly go birding?

In April and May I go looking for birds 3-4 times a week. During the rest of the year it is less frequent, but I try to get our at least once a week.

Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is the place I go most frequently as it is just a few miles from home. If I only have a couple of hours, I go to Wilson Spring Ponds in Nampa.

Where is your favorite place to bird in Idaho? In the U.S.? in the world?

Deer Flat NWR is my favorite place in Idaho.

My favorite place in the U.S. is extreme southeast North Carolina along the Cape Fear River and Atlantic Ocean.

Do you have any secret birding hotspots that may be yet unknown to Idaho birders that you would finally be willing to share with us?

No secret hotspots, but a new area of interest for me is the sagebrush desert of Owyhee County and its riparian zones.

How would you describe yourself as a birder? A "watcher", a "lister", both, or something else?

I think I am equally both a bird watcher and a lister. I keep a life list, state lists for 4 states and a year list. The year list helps motivate me to get outdoors for a walk, hike or a drive to places where I can find birds.

What kind of birding equipment do you use?

I carry my Nikon 60x20-40 spotting scope almost everywhere I go. I have learned to appreciate the fine detail of a bird as seen through a spotting scope. I also have Nikon Monarch 8x42 binoculars.

How do you keep track of your bird observations? And why?

I keep a small spiral notebook of all my bird outings which consists mostly of the bird list, but also of other interesting observations. I do this to support my formal bird lists, to establish dates and places when/where I might look for the birds in a subsequent years, and for reliving some great birding times.

What is your favorite bird sighting and what is the story behind it?

There are lots of favorite sightings such a the first time seeing the Snowy Owl, the Painted Bunting and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but an awesome sighting was one which occurred here in Idaho on the Snake River. I was participating in a goose nest survey on the Snake River islands with US Fish & Wildlife Service and went ashore on one island which had a dense growth of mature trees and brush. Not until I stepped on the shore did I notice it was rookery and densely populated with all of our herons and egrets including Cattle Egrets and more than 400 Black-crowned Night-Herons. It was a scene one might better expect in the tropics and one that left me breathless.

Your experience at the rookery is amazing. How can folks sign up to participate in survey's with US Fish & Wildlife?

To volunteer for the goose nest survey at the refuge, people need to be registered as a volunteer with Deer Flat NWR. The refuge has an extensive volunteer program which includes many activities such as wood duck nest box maintenance, staffing the Visitor Center on Saturdays, doing weed control, doing youth educational activities, etc. The refuge has an email newsletter which it distributes regularly and anyone who is interested can call the refuge at 208-467-9278 to be placed on the list and then will know when various volunteer opportunities exist.

Which is your favorite field guide and why?

My favorite guide is the National Geographic Birds of North America. The drawings are large, artistic, and the text has more information than identification.

What do you have in your home library birding reference set?

My first bird guide was a 1961 printing of Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds (Eastern) which I still enjoy looking through, and my references include the 1957 Audubon Bird Guide 3 book set, several of the Bent books in the life history series (reprints from the 30's and 40's), most of the contemporary bird guides, several special guides such as for warblers, shorebirds and hawks, several state guides to birdsing, Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior and the National Geographic Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America.

Your 1961 Peterson guide is now selling for $300 as a collectors item. I'm sure your other books have similar values.

I think each of my old bird guides or references had a role in my developing interest and activities with bird watching, they are kind of milestones. One book on my shelf, Bird Guide Land Birds East of the Rockies, goes back in my family two generations. It is a small leather covered pocket sized book (6"x3") published in 1905 and written by Chester A. Reed. About the Ivory-billed Woodpecker it says the range "...is now confined to a few isolated portions of Florida and, possibly, Indian Territory."

(Free electronic versions of this Chester Reed Bird Guide are available here online)

Do you have any formal bird-related education background?

I studied wildlife management at Mich. State Univ., to include courses in zoology, waterfowl science, ornithology, and several botany and ecology courses which give bird observations meaning as they establish a context.

What is/was your career?

I was a park ranger with the National Park Service, with the privilege of working in places likeYellowstone, Crater Lake and Yosemite.

If a fellow birder had a question about a bird, do you consider yourself an expert (or at least proficient) on any specific family of birds?

Proficient with most North American birds except Empidonax Flycatchers and immature gulls and sea birds.

Any other thoughts on the past-time of birding? What do your foresee in the future of birding?

The computer and the internet has drasticaly changed bird watching and birding. There is such a vast wealth of bird information and pictures on the internet along with information on good places to bird. Many more people are seeing more unusual birds because of the bird alerts, maintaining their interest in wildlife and strengthing the national voice for the preservation of wildlife habitat.

With all this new technology, do you see a down side or negative affects on the bird watching hobby? Birding associations?

Yes, there is a down side to bird watching with the current computer technology. There are so many more very mobile birders now and when a rare bird is found or its in season at one of the eastern or southwestern birding meccas, the number of birders which come almost trample the birds, certainly creating more stress for the bird. With birding associations, the new technology has given birders more independence to do individual birding, with less dependence on bird clubs for education and group bird watching.

Are you involved with any local or national birding organizations?

Board member of Southwestern Idaho Birders Assoc. and member of Golden Eagle Audubon Soc.

I know you volunteer a lot of time at Deer Flat. Can you share with us your history and involvement there?

I started volunteering at Deer Flat NWR about 9 years ago when I noticed that the Wood Duck nest boxes on the north side of Lake Lowell were in poor condition and it seemed no one was looking after them. Inquiring about them with the refuge staff, I learned that no one was maintaining them and I volunteered to do the job. Other volunteer opportunities came along about the same time to help with the goose nest survey and the waterfowl banding projects. Deer Flat NWR has one of the nicest Visitor Centers in the refuge system, but it was noticed that the staff was too small to keep the center open on the weekends. The Southwestern Idaho Birders Association formed a small pool of volunteers and the refuge management gave us the job of staffing the Visitor Center on Saturdays. That was several years ago, and the birding group is still doing it. My other current volunteer activity at the refuge is to present a wildlife education program to brownies and cub scouts on Scout Day (1st Sat. each month). I am a member of the Friends of the Wildlife Refuge which works to support the refuge in clean-ups, special occasions and at Canyon Co. public hearings regarding land development along the refuge boundary.

What is your nemesis bird?

My nemesis bird changes every couple of years, the last one being the American Bittern which was finally seen in 2008 at Malheur NWR. (eBird map of American Bittern sightings in Idaho and neighboring states in the last five years)

My new nemesis bird is the Pinyon Jay. (eBird map of Pinyon Jay sightings in Idaho and neighboring states in the last five years)

Anything about your family you'd like to share with us?

My wife Beverly enjoys bird watching, but not too much. After a few hours she is ready to hunker down with a book. Our two grown sons live in the east and it is nice to see them develop an interest in birding as much as their busy schedules allow.

As a life-long Scouter myself and boy who practically grew up on the edge of Lake Lowell and now as a birder, thank you so much for all that you have done and are still doing Jim!

In the beginning...Reflections on my birding addiction

I was recently reflecting on my interest in birds and I realized that my passion actually started earlier than just a few years ago.

Back in my days at Lincoln Elementary School in Nampa, Idaho, when we had library time, I recall checking out the Audubon bird guides at least once a month along with my other enduring favorite, the Guiness Book of World Records. Mrs. Johnson wouldn't let me check them out more often than once a month as I was supposed to be reading "real" books. I loved to peruse the pictures and explanations about the birds. The facts about which bird was the fastest, traveled the farthest, or laid the most eggs fascinated me. My parents also subscribed to National Geographic and I read that magazine from cover to cover.

At the end of the summer of 2001, my wife and baby boy and I stopped off at my uncle's home in Cedar City, Utah. We stayed a couple of nights with them as we were on our move back to Provo after my summer internship with Pulte Homes in Las Vegas. My uncle had several bird feeders up with a variety of seed and a really nice bird bath pond. We sat out in that backyard almost all day and he pointed out the variety of species we were seeing. I only remember him talking about the Pine Siskins, but I'll never forget how much I enjoyed the relaxation and the thrill of seeing wildlife so up close and personal.

That all led up to that Sunday afternoon when my bird-brained father-in-law handed me a pair binoculars and said, let's go for a walk....It all went downhill from there!

Birding Laughs #2

A couple of years ago I took my family out one morning to the Old Fort Boise to see the Spring migration of tens of thousands of Snow Geese. The Snow Geese weren't cooperating that morning, so we drove around on the dirt roads in the area to see what other birds and wildlife we could see.

There were two large trees overhanging the road ahead of us chuck-full of Cedar Waxwings. Hoping to pick out some possible Bohemian Waxwings, I pulled up underneath of the tree and opened my sunroof for a better view. Big mistake! Suddenly it started to rain, but it wasn't water. Some of the grossest bird droppings I had ever seen fell into our hair and all over, inside and out, of the family minivan. My wife was not well pleased.

Review: The Encyclopedia of North American Birds

I have to admit up front that I bought this book at a second hand book store and it was on the discount table there. It was about birds and it was cheap, so I had to buy it! I've never heard any one recommend this book as a "must-have", but I'd like to highlight a few advantages and disadvantages about this book.

1. It has great photography! Some of the shots are simply amazing and capture the birds in a variety of profiles and life situations. The photography is so good that I consider this more of a coffee table book rather than guidebook or an identification toolbook. Its a large book with a hard cover like coffee table books generally are. Some of the birds it lists and describes don't have a companion photo which disappoints a little. Since I don't consider it a guide book, I'm okay that it doesn't have photos of multiple variations of each species.

2. The book is organized in taxonomic order which is always nice. Some common North American species are missing from its pages and I don't know why.

3. It has range maps with each photographed bird. I love range maps and maps in general. I used to pin up the National Geographic maps on my bedroom walls and ceiling as a boy. My only complaint about the range maps in this book is that they don't show state/province boundaries which are often very helpful. Another pet peeve I just have to get off my chest...I hereby call upon all range map makers to establish a uniform range map color coding system!

4. Each bird has a blocked out section with the scientific name, the size, the habitat, ID info, and comparisons to similar species. This is followed by an encyclopedia style paragraph about the bird including info about nesting and other behaviors. All great info, but not my go-to source for this kind of information.

My recommendation: Michael Vanner has put together the perfect book to have around the house for kids to pick up out of curiosity and hopefully prompt a lifetime of interest in birds.

Price: new and used online for very low prices.

Birding Blogosphere

There have been some really great birding blog posts recently. Below are some links that I encourage you to check out.

Bill Schiess' Wild in Idaho blog always has interesting articles and cool photography. Check out this post on Cedar Waxwings.

If you haven't been following the fun and friendly competition between IBO's Hiedi and Jay, then you've been missing out. But, you can certainly catch up by reading their blog. They are trying to see as many Idaho species as they can in 2009 and they are very close to 300. We can help them out by reporting anything you might see on their updated wish list. You can also keep up with their awesome updates from the Idaho Bird Observatory blog.

Greg Gillson is the Pacific Northwest Backyard Birder whose blog features his own amazing photography. About once a week he highlights a specific bird. This one is on the Mountain Chickadee.

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest and has a great blog that occasionally features silly contests. Create the caption for a garden gnome peering through a spotting scope.

I just discovered this well-written blog this week from Idaho's neighbor to the south, Utah. Check out Melissa's Backyard Birds Utah blog.

Other great blogs that I follow are listed in the right-hand column of my blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Field Guide Review: Sparrows of the United States and Canada

Are you ready to take your birding to the next level? Then spend some time getting to know your LBJ's (little brown jobbers) by investing in the book Sparrows of the United States and Canada: A Photographic Guide.

No field guide less than a foot thick could ever show all the possible variations of birds, but for sparrows, this book comes awfully close.

I have been using it recently to learn the subspecies of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-crowned Sparrows. A recent sighting of a White-throated Sparrow in the Boise area sent me running to this book to learn all about them.

The layout of the book is fantastic and the photography is excellent. My compliments to compilers David Beadle and James Rising. This is a must have reference book for every serious birder.

Price: As low as $18 online.