Bird Sightings for June 2024
June 27 A Birdafull day for checking out Bluebird boxes. Dan, Beth and I checked out my HWY 89 and Logging Creek Bluebird birdhouses, we didn’t do as poorly as I feared. Overall it is a promising start, there were only 8 failed nests, and most of them are making a second attempt so hopefully it doesn’t get too hot too quickly. • We were all surprised by how many Bluebirds have fledged, we even had one next fledge while we watched. • We also had a fair number of Tree Swallows nests. • Overall we had 43 active Bluebird nests with 61 hatchlings and had 49 Bluebirds already fledged. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of weeks go. – Richard Mousel
June 26 A fellow from Sarasota, FL reported a summer tanager in the parking lot area Monday afternoon at Giant Springs. – Beth Hill
https://ebird.org/checklist/S183586467
June 21 Dan and I birded Sluice boxes for about 40 minutes late this morning. 34 species. Got great looks at an American Redstart male.
Sluice Boxes SP–North End
X Canada Goose — Merlin
1 Mourning Dove
1 Common Nighthawk
2 White-throated Swift
X Calliope Hummingbird — Merlin
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-naped Sapsucker
1 Northern Flicker
1 Western Wood-Pewee
2 Least Flycatcher
1 Dusky Flycatcher
1 Western Flycatcher (Cordilleran)
1 Say’s Phoebe
1 Warbling Vireo
5 Common Raven
2 Violet-green Swallow
5 Cliff Swallow
2 House Wren
2 Gray Catbird
1 Brown Thrasher
1 Veery
2 American Robin
2 Cedar Waxwing
1 Pine Siskin
1 American Goldfinch
1 Song Sparrow
1 Spotted Towhee
X Nashville Warbler — Merlin
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
1 Yellow Warbler
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
2 Black-headed Grosbeak
Have a Birdafull day! – Richard Mousel
June 19 Not much diversity in the water, just the usuals: Eared Grebes, Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwalls, an occasion Blue-winged teal. There was a Wilson’s Phalarope in the road before the first pond and i spotted her nest close by. And drama in the sky as a Short-eared owl with a vole chased a female Northern harrier. I saw 3 short-eared owls between Wilson road and the park entrance. – Jan Wilson
June 19 Even though there wasn’t much activity or numbers I did manage to identify 54 species this morning. Sure surprised me. Saw 4 shorteared owls total. Watched a marbled godwit and Franklins gull have a disagreement. I couldn’t tell who started it. There were LOTS of baby eared grebes being fed. You wouldn’t expect cliff swallows out on the prairie, yet I watched a group of 14-18 flying about. – Beth Hill
June 21 What a beautiful day to check some of my Bluebird boxes, Dan Bennett and I checked about 90 boxes approximately 95 percent were active, a great result. • Things started out well with nearly all boxes active, not necessarily as I’d hoped with all Bluebirds but with nests. • Dan and I did some additional birding along the way, one of the highlights was a Bobolink singing. Unfortunately when we began to gain elevation things turned out bad, altogether we had 13 Bluebird nests failures, with additional boxes with partial survival. • It depended alot on habitat and at what stage the nestlings were in. If habitat was good they were more likely to have survived that recent snow, also if the eggs hadn’t hatched yet so they didn’t have extra mouths to feed. • I’m hoping that the nests that failed will re attempt nesting again, I believe one pair of Bluebirds is working on a second brood.• We did remarkably well all things considered. We had an additional 43 active Bluebird nests. With an estimated 30 Bluebirds already fledged. We also had 15 Tree Swallow nests and 5 Wrens. Was pleased to discover a single Mountain Chickadee nest. – Richard Mousel
June 20 Saw two adult burrowing owls and three or four owlets near a burrow this afternoon. saw a few other adult burrowing owls and tons of p dogs. also saw the antelope nursery – at least two dozen antelope babies in the grass with the mamas off grazing a good distance away just south of the county jail between the frontage road and highway – Bev Axelsen
June 16 An interesting article about Tree Swallows – Richard Mousel
June 16 That’s interesting. I would have thought they would have a higher occupancy even the first year.
West Bank is 100% 911 boxes). I checked them Friday – some were 5-6 days old, another 3 were hatching that day, and another third were still incubating. Lots of fussy parents when I approach the boxes. (we need to be able to number them permanently – anyone have some number stencils?) – Beth Hill
June 8 Friday morning I walked the loop around the West Bank/East Bank. I wanted to check out the 11 Tree Swallow houses. All 11 are active, 2 are still building their nests, all the rest are incubating or in the process of egg laying. One box had 8 eggs! 6-7 is average. Nothing unusual and still ended with a list of 38 species identified. The past 3 days we no longer had Pine Siskins coming to our thistle feeder. I didn’t hear or see any at Giant Springs this morning. They may be headed higher to breeding grounds. I only saw or heard 4-5 Swainson’s Thrushes, which is to be expected as they also move higher once we get to June. Nighthawks are flying around over the river now. They can be heard “beeping” which can help to locate them zipping around with their white under wing bars. We still have a Black-headed Grosbeak coming to our feeders. Merlin hears it – I don’t – but he is easy to see when it lands on our deck. “Our” House Wrens returned last week and haven’t shut up since! Every week is a little different. – Beth Hill
June 3 Anyone seen the goldens out here? I drove out yesterday and did not see any sign of babies or adults in/near the nest nor have I seen the adults soaring. I have seen other vehicles parked near the cliffs watching but have not been able to speak to anyone. I do have at least one pair of bullock’s orioles coming to the nectar dish daily. the avocets were still sitting on nests out at Freezeout yesterday – dozens of them all over the place – in short bushes, in open alkali, and one fairly close to the road in the open – Bev Axlesen
June 2 Just thought I’d share a couple the field trip reports from the bird festival. I took both of these trips. I saw a lot of birds for the first time this year and a life bird (the broad-tailed hummer). It made me want to fill my deck with pots of flowering plants and hang sugar feeders – just in case.
https://ebird.org/tripreport/248027
https://ebird.org/tripreport/247414
Getting up at 4:40 am several days in a row can be tough, but before you know it it is 2 pm. Next year it will be in Missoula. The following year – Kalispell. Total immersion birding and you meet the most interesting people. – Beth Hill
June 2 We headed into town one morning a couple of days ago. Between the 10 Mile/River Road T and Ulm we saw 2 SE Owls, a Harrier, a Red-tail, Bald Eagle and a Ferruginous hawk.A neighbor reported seeing a flock of 40 Sandhill Cranes in a field not too far from the Castner Falls Cemetary last week. Seems a bit late for such a big flock?? We have at least 50 Goldfinches at our place today. In addition to the Niger and sunflower they are enjoying the dandelion seeds and the flowers on the Bur Oaks. We also still have some Pine Siskins. – Kitty and Kris.
Bird Sightings for June 2024 Read More »