Portneuf Valley Audubon Society News

October, 2020

PO Box 32, Pocatello, ID 83204-0032

www.pvas.us

Portneuf Valley Audubon meetings and field trips continue to be cancelled due to the corona virus pandemic. Stay tuned for updates of when they will resume.

With the American Falls Fish Hatchery Trail still closed because of thecorona virus pandemic, this is a good birding option near the town of American Falls.

President’s Letter from Barb North

Keeping feeders and feeding stations clean reduces the spread of disease, and keeps unwanted organisms away. It is a good and necessary strategy for happy birds and birders. You never know what other benefits might occur when you show up and pay attention.

My station includes an old elm stump, cut tall. When I stepped up, I saw a sparrow tail raised perpendicular to the top center of the stump. There was no movement, so I thought the sparrow had died. I tugged on this tail, but to my surprise, the bird was still alive!

This poor sparrow however, couldn’t jump up and fly away. It had somehow fallen into a small crevice, upside down, with its head turned backwards. One foot was clutching the wood tightly, and the bird was still warm. I was able to help it out. Upon release, it fluttered to the ground then to a bush. A few minutes later it flew to a perch, preened, then flew to another location for some food. I watched until it flew to bushes for the night.

I will never know how this sparrow came to be in this position. What I do know is that I made a significant impact on this sparrow’s life. I had to work hard to raise it up; it was not going to escape by itself.

We need to be aware of our impact on the birds and wildlife that we watch and photograph. An interaction that may seem short to us, may be significantly long to a much smaller organism. If the organism is in a critical time period, such as raising young, we really need to limit our time.

We also need to be aware of preventing birds from feeding, as well as leading predators to them. We need to minimize our disturbance to the birds and other organisms.

Be Aware!

Happy Birding,Barb North

PVAS donates to Idaho Bird Records Committee

Per a request from Richard Cripe of the Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society, PVAS has donated $75 to the Idaho Bird Records Committee to help it pay for an upgrade of the website of the Idaho Birds Record Committee (IBRC).

The IBRC keeps the official state list of all bird sightings for Idaho. Cliff and Lisa Weisse from Island Park have been managing the Idaho Bird Records Committee for many years. PVAS’s Chuck Trost is chair of this committee, which he started in the mid-1980s,

According to its website, located at https://ibrc.idahobirds.net/, the IBRC’s purpose is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the birds of Idaho, by providing an officially validated and accurate data source of bird distribution and patterns of avian vagrancy in Idaho.

IBRC Functions include:

• Evaluate reports of rare or unusual bird sightings in Idaho.

• Permanently maintain, for future reference, all original submitted bird reports and subsequent Committee comments and votes.

• Establish standards of observation and reporting that will increase knowledge of birds found in Idaho.

• Provide a means by which sight reports can gain universal acceptance as valuable scientific data.

• Publish and maintain an official Checklist of Idaho Birds and an official List of Idaho Review Species.

• The website has an online checklist of Idaho birds and one to download. It also has two searchable databases, the IBRC Rare Bird Reports and Sturts Idaho Bird Records Database.

It’s good news to hear that loons appear to be doing well in the lakes south of Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Barb North

Loon chicks hatch in lakes south of Yellowstone National Park

Chuck Trost, field trips chair and the Godfather PVAS, received some good news about nesting loons in the lakes along Flagg Ranch Road this summer.

PVAS was not able to do a fieldtrip here this summer and PVAS member Scott MacButch made a count of loons along the Flagg Ranch Road near the end of August, and found no chicks.

Hearing this, Trost emailed Vin Spagnuolo, who has been studying loons in the Yellowstone region for many years for Biodiversity Research Institute. Spagnuolo had good news about the loons: he reported there were two chicks fledged at Bergman Reservoir, one at Indian Lake, two at Moose Lake, and two at Loon Lake.

“He feels that the loons are doing very well on lakes south of the park,” Trost said.

Perhaps Try a Little “Slow Birding”

to Take the Edge Off the Pandemic

PVAS webmaster Todd Winters said he recently listened to a podcast about “slow birding” that has piqued his interest, and he thought PVAS members might want to give it a try to stay motivated during the pandemic.

There is a website devoted to the practice: https://www.birddiva.com/slow-birding.

The opening page of that website has this to say about slow birding:

“The faster one goes, the more strain there is on the senses, the more they fail to take in, the more confusion they must tolerate or gloss over - and the longer it takes to bring the mind to a stop in the presence of anything.

— from An Entrance to the Woods by Wendell Berry

Watching birds isn’t really fast in the first place. The pace of a birder in the field is slow and methodical. And yet, traditional birding can be list-driven and competitive. Slow Birding explores a fresh approach to observing birds focused on re-awakening & fine tuning your innate birding skills while at the same time creating a deeper connection to yourself and the place you live.”

National Audubon Puts Out Guidelines for 2020 Christmas Bird Count

The following is from a Sept. 22, 2020 email from national Audubon titled “Christmas Bird Count Compiler Announcements”:

COVID-19 Guidelines for the 121st Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Audubon will fully support any compiler who decides to cancel their count for this year. If a compiler would like to proceed with the CBC, they must abide by the guidelines below.

Dear CBC Compilers,

First and foremost, we hope this message finds you and your loved ones well. We are living through unprecedented times, but the most important things are still those we choose to spend our time with.

Due to the COVID19 outbreak, this year’s Christmas Bird Count will require a few changes if your count is to take place at all. The two options for Christmas Bird Count compilers are as follows:

Option 1: Run a COVID-19 safe and socially distanced CBC, if local rules allow. [Must wait until November 15 at the earliest to choose this option in order to better understand status of COVID outbreak in your region during the CBC.]

Option 2: If option 1 is not possible, cancel this season’s CBC for your location. [Can choose this option now if you wish.]

If you choose option 1, below are the guidelines that we urge you to follow:

• Wait until November 15 at the earliest to confirm CBC will take place, if local regulations allow.

• Cancel all in-person compilation gatherings.

Social distancing and/or masking are required at all times in the field.

• Carpooling may only occur within existing familiar or social “pod” groups.

• Activities must comply with all current state and municipal COVID-19 guidelines.

If you feel it is not safe to move forward with your CBC and choose option 2, please know that Audubon fully supports your decision to cancel. The safety of our compilers and community scientists will always be our top priority.

If you would like to take some more time before deciding whether or not to move forward with the 121st Christmas Bird Count, please do so and check in with us around the beginning of November once you have made your decision.

One note: There will be little to no impact on the scientific value of the Christmas Bird Count by missing or altering one count season. So again, we urge you to prioritize your safety and the safety of others when making your decision.

PVAS Board

President, Barb North, 208‑406‑8507 barb.north10@gmail.com

Treasurer, Jackie Maughan jjm47@cableone.net

Field Trips, Chuck Trost, 208-233-4538 trostchuck@cableone.net

Conservation Chair, Dave Delehanty, 208‑232‑8757 deledavi@isu.edu

Membership, Frank Renn, 208‑233‑5638, rennnanc@isu.edu

Publicity, including newsletter

Andy Taylor, 208-317-4965, taylandy@isu.edu

Members-at-Large:

Sue Weeg, 208-220-0327, pvasnews@gmail.com

Curt Whitaker, 208-282-2742, whitaker@isu.edu

Todd Winters, toddwinters@gmail.com