If at first you don't succeed ...

Those who follow this blog will recall the wingtip of the Black-throated Sparrow I showed in the previous post. The Black-throated Sparrow really is an attractive bird, so I was disappointed not to get a better image.

I told my birder friends about the sighting, and was told that they found the birds and a nest. The pair of Black-throated Sparrows were busy gathering food for their young about to fledge.

Armed with the knowledge that the birds would very likely still be in the area, I was compelled to go back.

The Jackrabbit was still there, along with many relatives. This time it posed further away from the broken bottle. I also saw Horned Lizard and heard a pack of Coyotes calling in the distance.

The rock formations in the area were surreal. This one reminded me of some animal skull.


The Common Nighthawk were flying overhead, and when two of them would approach one another, one would make a roaring noise. I'm unsure of the mechanism, but it reminded me of a toy I had as a kid, a flat blade attached to a string that, when whirled around, made a loud roaring noise. I think it was airflow past feathers that vibrated, but I'll research this more when I find time.


The sun was getting lower on the horizon and a couple of bats appeared as well.


And there they were! A pair of the Black-throated Sparrows.


Shortly after that the sunset colors lit up the sky and it was time to head home.


On the way home, a pair of young Coyotes ran down the road in front of the car, at times pausing, turning, and looking at me as I stopped and waited for them to get out of the road. Other than their big ears, they looked like a pair of puppies to me.

Owyhee Birds

Last weekend I went with a friend to seek a bird I had never seen, the Black-throated Sparrow. They live in the desert of the southwest on rocky hillsides. The very northern extent of their range just enters southern Idaho and one place they had been seen in years past was the Owyhee Mountains of southwestern Idaho.

We stopped at a few reservoirs on the way and saw many wading birds, ducks and even American White Pelicans.

When we got to our destination we were fascinated by the unique habitat. Strange eroding rock formations stood on the skyline, and flowers I had never seen were growing in the oolitic soil.

Then a flash of wings caught my attention. I looked with my binoculars and saw the bold black and white facial pattern that was the Black-throated Sparrow. What luck! They usually spend most of their time on the ground, and this one had flown up onto a shrub. I raised the camera for a photo and it disappeared into the bush. I walked closer and saw it again on the next bush. I again raised the camera for a photo.

Once again it flew. See the wingtip there at the left edge of the bush? Next time I'll have to get a photo that includes the throat. It is called the Black-throated Sparrow for a reason. It was still a joy to see it, though the photo leaves much to be desired.

We went a bit further up the road to walk up a dry wash. This photo is a sign of the West, isn't it? A Black-tailed Jackrabbit by some artifacts of the ancient civilization known as the "Red Neck People."

The dry wash had very interesting textures in the dried mud.

We saw a Say's Phoebe and a Common Nighthawk flew overhead making that strange buzzy call. The sun was getting low on the horizon and a chattering flock of small birds flew down into the wash. Looking through my binoculars I was amazed to see a small bird with a long tail and white eyes!

I imagined a bird with white eyes and a long tail like that would be easy to identify. It wasn't the White-eyed Vireo. Those have some yellowish feathers. This bird had a small dark bill as well, and kept flicking open its wings. Wrentit, I thought. I'd only seen Wrentit once, and that was on the Oregon coast.

They allowed me to get quite a few photos and many good looks. I kept asking my hiking companion, "Did you see the white eye?" Other than the vireo, I couldn't recall any white-eyed birds. Surely this would be easy to identify. When I got back to the car I pulled out my bird guide, and sure enough, the Wrentit has a long tail, short dark bill, and pale iris. But, they live on the Oregon Coast, not in the desert.

When I got home I excitedly checked my Idaho checklist which includes the 405 birds seen in Idaho, and this one had never been seen in Idaho. I posted some directions to my find along with these photos to the Idaho birders discussion list.

When I awoke the next morning I checked my email and two very experienced birds had sent me polite, patient emails explaining the difference between Bushtit and Wrentit. The Wrentit has a dark, streaky belly and the Bushtit has a paler belly and face. The female Bushtit has a white iris. I did see a Bushtit for the first time this spring, and it had dark eyes ... so I guess I had seen a male.

Birds never cease to amaze and interest me. Males of this species have one color eyes, females another. I wonder why?

I thought I might go down in birding history for finding a species new to Idaho ... but instead I might go down in birding history for misidentifying so many Idaho birds! I'm so glad I have my camera, so I can study the pictures at great length. Imagine if I can get it wrong even with clear photos ... how many mistakes could I make from my fallible memory of a quick glimpse?