Idaho Day 5: Redfish Lake!
Sawtooth National Recreation Area, ID
Tuesday 13 August 2019
72 °F
Today, Pearl and I were graciously invited to venture up to beautiful Redfish Lake with our friends Emma, Ashley, Gina, and Lucas. This is a popular day trip destination in central Idaho — and for a good reason — it is absolutely beautiful.
Upon arriving and snapping the above photo, I immediately went birding along the northwestern shore of the lake. A female WESTERN TANAGER was nice:
WARBLING VIREO:
All smiles on a beautiful day!
An OSPREY flew over:
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS typically do not nest in large numbers within the Wood River Valley (Sun Valley area), but in the vicinity of Redfish Lake in the Salmon River drainage area, these are fairly common nesters.
We had a lot of fun in the lake! Here is Pearl:
Toward the end of our day, I went birding again, this time in the vicinity of the visitor center, and it was a bit more productive with regards to passerines. The best bird of the day was this female RED CROSSBILL, one of my favorite Idaho nesting birds:
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (Audubon’s or western subspecies):
Female CASSIN’S FINCH:
It was an absolutely beautiful evening at Redfish Lake. 
On the way home, we spotted a few cars pulled over so we hit the breaks and admired a female Moose in the upper Wood River Valley across from the Boulder Mountains. It was a beautiful drive home. Thanks so much to our friends for taking us!
Bird-of-the-day to the Red Crossbill with runner-up to the Osprey. The full list from today is attached below. Stay tuned: tomorrow I am headed out with my friend Kathleen Cameron in search of a nemesis of mine, the Greater Sage-Grouse!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species
1. Sandhill Crane
2. Spotted Sandpiper
3. Osprey
4. Red-tailed Hawk
5. Warbling Vireo
6. Steller’s Jay
7. American Crow
8. Tree Swallow
9. Violet-green Swallow
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Mountain Chickadee
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch
13. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
14. Mountain Bluebird
15. Cassin’s Finch
16. Red Crossbill
17. Brewer’s Blackbird
18. Yellow-rumped Warbler
19. Western Tanager
20. Chipping Sparrow
Nice Henry! I’m heading up there tomorrow for 4 days, taking a boat to the far side in hopes of my nemesis spruce grouse! I will certainly be thinking of you! Wish me luck!
by Poo