March 2026 Bird Report
March 24 – Richard and I cleaned out 6 boxes this afternoon, then I completed 2 more boxes. It was easy to tell which box had starlings and which had kestrels. 2 boxes seem to have kestrels interested already. So – it is definitely time to get them done and ready. – Beth Hill
March 23 – Winter Raptor Survey – West (airport bench). The weather was remarkable because it was mostly sunny all morning, the temperatures had a narrow range of 30-45 degrees and the wind was almost non-existent at 3-10 mph. It was also remarkable because of the few raptors seen – 1 Northern Harrier and 4 Bald Eagles. This route usually has a few more. There were plenty of Horned Larks flitting about. Western Meadowlarks were heard singing as well as Red-winged Blackbirds. Highlight – a shrike. Photo confirmed a Northern Shrike. It is a little early to have a Loggerhead. The waterfowl were added at several ponds that we pass. – Beth Hill
https://ebird.org/tripreport/491753
March 22 – I thought I heard sandhill cranes but never did spot them; they usually nest on the north edge of Gib Flats near the cliffs below town in a brushy wet area / some neighbors who live nearer to the cliffs say the sandhill cranes do not raise young out here because we have fox and coyotes but I’ve seen them fly over, feed in the fields, and head back north late in the day / the flickers have aerated the lawn well / have starlings, sparrows, house finches, Eurasian collared doves at the feeders but haven’t seen a downy or hairy woodpecker lately / haven’t seen any raptors, either – large or small / the man made pond (in a low spot) with two islands and a goose nesting platform on Eaton Ave had two Canada geese in the water today / the shallow pond off Gibson Flats Road is dry but the larger one well off the paved road is full of water and had Canada geese in it
March 21 – Raptor Survey – South – It was a day full of surprises. 39 Bald Eagles with 7 occupied nests. The one nest that has been consistent from year to year appeared vacant. Red-tailed Hawks are returning – we saw one working on a nest from a prior year, many clearly had “red tails”, the 7 we saw along Millegan Rd may have been migrants. One was clearly a northern bird – nearly black. Both the Prairie Falcon and the Merlin gave us thrilling looks. Non-raptors – starlings dominated on every single checklist. Sometimes 200 or more, most in numbers of 5-15. Pheasants were also well represented – the roosters were out strutting. And then there was the weather. It started mostly (almost partly) cloudy and not much wind (E 5-8 mph). By 10 am the clouds had built up and the temperature had already peaked at 60 degrees. Suddenly it was in the 40’s. Our first raindrops arrived at 11:30, we had snow from noon to the end. The heaviest snow held off until we were past the area of highest Bald Eagle density. The 8 Sandhill Cranes were all within 1 mile of each other (or less). Last year we saw 31 species in March, this year we had 39 species. The one “taxa” was a gull – either California or Ring-billed. Great spotting by the crew once again – Steve, Richard and Bev with Steve driving and keeping us on the road. – Beth Hill
https://ebird.org/tripreport/490640
March 21 – We had Tree Swallows show up today to inspect the housing situation. Have good numbers of Robins, Red Winged BB and House Finches. A few Grouse are still stopping by to scratch under the feeders. We also have a small flock of Juncos and at least 3 Golden Crowned Kinglets. – Kitty Knapus
March 17 – 63,500 Snow Geese at Freezeout. I visited Freezeout late on Tuesday afternoon. The wind was blowing hard and there were lots of clouds. But a patch of blue showed up and I had 1 hour of good light from 4 – 5pm. I found the geese in a farmer’s field, between the lake and hwy 89. I took photos until they all left for the lake, about 5:30pm. – Jan Wilson
March 15 – We have at least 3 Flickers visiting our feeders, both peanuts and suet. – Richard Mousel
March 11 – Went out to Benton today. It was very windy and cold. Lakes are about 80-90% frozen, generally. All sorts of waterfowl out there. Lots of swans, pintails, mallards along with some honkers, canvasbacks, redheads, widgeon, goldeneyes, and a few other species here and there. Took a bunch of pics and had a couple surprises when I got home and looked at them, which is always nice.
Looked at the swan pic and I think the two species are together. Got lucky. A pair of trumpeters (I think..) are in the back, they are bigger than the tundras in the foreground, they don’t have yellow at base of bill, and they have a “v-hull” (like a boat) where forehead meets the bill. The tundras in foreground are a bit smaller, have yellow at base of bill (usually) and have a ‘unibrow’ (almost straight across) where forehead meets the bill.
Second pic is not great but I I think it shows a pair of white fronted geese on the right hanging out with swans and pintails on the ice. They do kinda look like the Tundra Bean Goose that Jan saw at Giant Springs but the bill and forehead are different.
Beth – can u confirm the ID’s? Is it common to see white-fronted geese at Benton? – Steve Leathe
March 11 – Grouse House at Benton Lake. I was out there today.It looks like they picked up all the pieces.
Since they have some big work buildings, they may try to put it back together inside – where there is no wind and it is warmer. It is made to be transportable, so if they do – no problem to put it back.
March 11 – There must have been a fallout at Benton Lake after Sunday’s windstorm, there were 100-200 pintails on an ice sheet at the last pond. Most were chilling, there were many courtship flights and almost all occasionally lifted-off after an unknown scare. Swan’s numbers have decreased, lots of mallards, canvas backs, some wigeons. 11 Snow Geese flew over but did not land on pond 3, maybe the first pond. As I turned the corner for pond 3 there was a Bald Eagle on top of a lone snow goose but flew away when i approached. Goose was alive and upright, but not a pretty sight. – Jan Wilson
March 9 – Meadowlark !!! I heard meadowlark!!! Absolutely positive twice! Fort Shaw! – Darolyn Holland
March 9 – Just had 30 Snow Geese fly over. – Richard Mousel
I had a flock of 100+ heading toward Benton Lake or Freezout as I left home at 5 pm this evening. – Beth Hill
March 9 – We had 15 GC Rosy Finches stop by the feeders first thing this morning, also had a dozen ST Grouse perched in the top of the ash tree. Then a couple of hours later there was a Sandhill Crane that flew over. – Kitty Knapus
March 9 – There was a pair of sandhill cranes at Benton Lake this morning! – Beth Hill
March 9 – Winter Raptor Survey – Highwoods Today. The wind was wild today. The 25-30 mph winds didn’t last long, by 10 am the wind was blowing 35-45 mph (or more). Temperatures were 46-60 degrees – quite warm for early March. The birds were few and far between. One Red-tailed Hawk was still in the territory we’ve found it all winter. Bald Eagles were gathered along Upper Highwood Creek. One bird swooped by so fast it challenged identification. First reaction was Prairie Falcon – the wind was carrying it fast and straight away from us. The pointed wings were a tip off. There was a patch of white, but more underneath than a rump patch. The 2 Northern Harriers we saw were both flying around with their typical dihedral, teetering flight coursing over a field. It just flew differently than the harriers. Thanks to Velda for driving and spotting and ‘backseat” Richard for additional spotting. – Beth Hill
https://ebird.org/tripreport/485402
March 7 – Saw this little fellow battling the wind and eyeballing the finches in the neighbor’s spruce tree this morning. At first I thought it was just another collared dove til I looked more closely with binocs and it eventually flew to another perch for more pics. It was really small with skinny legs and I am reasonably sure it was an adult sharpshin (red eyes…) and prob a male as it really was ‘flicker-sized’. But…. as u know I have been wrong before. – Steve Leathe
March 7 – Saw 500-800 swans today at Benton Lake, along with large numbers of Pintails, Common Goldeneyes. – Jan Wilson
March 2 – Lots of pintails (doing courtship flights) at Giant Springs yesterday – almost none today. I guess they just hopped over the hill to Benton Lake. – Beth Hill
March 1 – Hey Beth: could this be a juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose? He was hanging out with the with the Mallards in the river, half-way between GS park and Rainbow dam.
Jan, both Merlin and lens says it’s a tundra bean goose.
March 1 – Nothing as exciting as a tundra bean goose, but we spotted a lesser black-backed gull at Giant Springs this morning. It was on the far side of the river, so the image is quite cropped. Yellow eyes and legs, and an extremely dark mantle makes the California gulls look almost white. Red dot on lower bill. A nice adult.
Lots of variety this morning, courtship flights of pintails, wigeons, gadwal, scaup, ring-necked ducks, and lots of cackling geese. Maybe that’s how I didn’t see the bean goose – got tired of looking at the little geese (I stopped counting at 34). – Beth Hill
March 1 – Fairfield Bench Raptor Survey Completed. Today was overcast, the temperature ranged from 18-21 degrees and the wind was a non-factor. There was no snow on the ground although an occasional snowflake floated by. This area is highly cultivated even though there are quite a few herds of cattle grazing. The cultivated fields might have a lot of geese, but we didn’t see one ground squirrel running about. Interesting, we saw 4 Snow Geese. We did see 6 individual raptors again this month, 1 nice male Northern Harrier, 4 adult Bald Eagles and 1 Rough-legged Hawk. One pair of geese were standing on the ridgeline of a metal outbuilding, another was sitting in a nest high in a tree (probably red-tail) and a third was sitting on a knob of a broken limb high in a tree. Why do some seek high spots ? Horned Larks were scattered all about. Although it isn’t in this survey area we did see the regular American Kestrel near Largent Bend, she had a fresh small rodent kill in her grasp. A nice quiet, easy to count survey today. Thanks to Bev for driving and additional spotting with Richard. – Beth Hill
Here is the full trip report-
https://ebird.org/tripreport/482708