Idaho Days 6 & 7: City of Rocks

Wednesday 18 August 2021 90 °F

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14:

A quieter day of hanging out in Ketchum yielded only one bird photo — a quick snap of a STELLAR’S JAY behind our condo:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15:

Nubs, Kathleen, Poo, and I headed to southern Idaho for another day trip: this time we were in search of one of Idaho’s most elusive breeding birds: Pinyon Jay in the City of Rocks area, which I have tried unsuccessfully for multiple times before. On the way, we had a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE just off the highway:

At the Rupert sewage ponds we scared up a few ducks and shorebirds — pictured in flight are BLUE-WINGED TEAL which were revealed by their blue speculums, with three much smaller WESTERN SANDPIPERS.

RUDDY DUCK:

AMERICAN AVOCETS:

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD:

REDHEAD (front) with MALLARDS (left) and a GREEN-WINGED TEAL (right):

WESTERN KINGBIRD:

LARK SPARROW:

Right alongside the highway we spotted this incredible immature FERRUGINOUS HAWK which allowed for incredible views!

Look at those incredible “boots!”

Female AMERICAN KESTREL:

Flyby COOPER’S HAWK near Castle Rock State Park after we struck out at our first location looking for Pinyon Jays.

We also struck out at our second location, the picnic area at Castle Rock. Instead we were treated to a mixed flock of BUSHTIT and BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, one of which is pictured here:

Yellow-bellied Marmot:

Lovely scenery at Castle Rock.

A flyover WHITE-THROATED SWIFT was a great pick-up although I failed to get any of the other birders on it, unfortunately.

Female BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD at the visitor center:

A lone Coyote:

CHIPPING SPARROW:

Beautiful scenery at City of Rocks State Park despite the heavy smoke in the area.

Prickly Pear Cactus!

RED-TAILED HAWK take-off!

Although we struck out with Pinyon Jay and most of our target birds in the City of Rocks area, we continued on, choosing to bird Lake Walcott State Park where we picked this CASPIAN TERN with RING-BILLED GULLS and a bathing KILLDEER.