Shoshone County Century Count
Scroll down for chart of total birds
June 8, 2002
After broadcasting my opinion that we would be doing well to get 85 species, the Century Team turned in an amazing performance for a total of 99 species. This was despite the fact that it rained, sleeted or snowed on us all day except for an hour at the beginning and an hour at dusk.
is difficult to know where to begin describing the highlights of the count. We racked up quite a few highlights in our 16 hour day, and, of course, each team member has their own favorite highlight. For some it was the Rock Dove stakeout in downtown Kellogg, for others, the sight of the slow falling pristine white snow above Mullan, and yet others probably experienced a highlight each time they climbed back in the car and the driver started the motor and cranked up the heater blower.
The Coeur d’Alene contingent arrived at my house in an anticipatory mood, having driven through a spot of rain on the pass, and having "left it behind". Our first bird was a Western Tanager flying over our heads as we stood in the driveway. For the next several hours, we steadily knocked down the typical riparian species found along the North Fork (5 flycatchers, 3 vireos, 5 warblers, etc.), plus a few surprises (American Redstart, Bank Swallow). After the first hour, it began to rain.
For the statistically-inclined, we identified 57 species in the first 4.5 hours of birding, all within a 4 mile stretch of river between the Bumblebee cutoff bridge and Kingston. (In the evening, we picked up an additional 2 species on this stretch.)
We headed to Page ponds after a coffee stop. At the sewage ponds and adjacent wetlands, we found Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, Redhead and Wilson’s Phalarope – species difficult to find anywhere else in the county. Next, downtown Smelterville turned up a surprise flock of Red Crossbills, plus a hummingbird feeder with 3 species present. Cindi and Kathryn heard a Savannah Sparrow at the airport. Altogether, we picked up an additional 19 species in the Page-Smelterville area. The rain continued.
From there we proceeded to a stakeout of the condemned YMCA building in downtown Kellogg, peering through the rain at holes in the eaves, searching for a glimpse of the rump, leg or beady-eyed face of a Rock Dove. Several minutes passed, and then a mostly white dove popped out to flutter above us.
It was now noon, and we had 77 species under our belts. We drove in the rain to Mullan, and birded the open pastures to the east towards the pass. Here we found Mountain Bluebird, and then both kinglets at Shoshone Park. The pastures were full of Chipping Sparrows popping up and down, while an unexpected Osprey perched in a tree above a pond. And we started to see Townsend’s Solitaires about every 5 minutes. The rain became mixed with sleet and snow.
Our total as we left Mullan stood at 85 species, and we drove back to Wallace, and then over Dobson Pass, where the rain turned to snow. Several team members did not appear to fully appreciate the beauty of the snow-dappled landscape. Dropping down into the Beaver Creek drainage, the snow turned back to rain, and we picked up 3 more species – Common Snipe, Red-naped Sapsucker and Evening Grosbeak.
A cruise through Murray (in the rain) yielded Cassin’s Finch, then we turned up Eagle Creek (in the rain) to pick up Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. On a tip, we traveled up the East Fork Eagle Creek on a Forest Service road where we found 2 more species, each represented by a single wet, bedraggled specimen – Turkey Vulture and Gray Jay.
Now a little after 7 PM, we had been birding for over 14 hours, and the effects were beginning to show. I see no need to record for posterity the remarks being bandied about; let it suffice to say that we were all a bit, well, punchy. Our total stood at 93 species. Behind schedule, we raced down the new side river road in the rain, backing up once to confirm a Common Merganser (94). Below Bumblebee cutoff, we stopped on the old side road at the site where the Veery had eluded us that morning. As soon as we rolled down the windows and cut the engine, the Veery performed on cue (95), and we dashed off down the river once more.
Next, Shirley spotted 2 adult Bald Eagles in a snag at Kingston (96). Now the light was fading although the rain had miraculously stopped, and after discussing our options, we opted for a return visit to the Page ponds. Here Kris found a singing Common Yellowthroat (97) which had perhaps been silent in the morning because of the rain. Then a Common Nighthawk (98) appeared just as the words left my lips, "There ought to be a nighthawk here." Finally Shirley, fed up with being skunked by the Spotted Towhees all day, started to hike up the hill with Nancy, making provocative owl noises as she went, until a towhee began to mew and was counted as our 99th, and final, species.
What a day! The precipitation dampened the bird activity, but may also have acted to maintain it throughout the day at a low level. Who knows what we would have found if we had spent less time huddled in the cars shivering or trying to defog our binoculars? There were several fairly common species that were missed, namely Red-tailed Hawk, Wild Turkey, Pileated Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee and American Goldfinch. Suggestions for next year’s Century Count ranged from Florida to Arizona and Hawaii. But we do know that next time we "do" Shoshone County, we will bring our snowshoes and foul-weather gear.
Thanks to Jan for the official records-keeping! Trip participants: Kris Buchler, Janet Callen, Roland Craft, Dick Cripe, Lisa Hardy, Cindi Langlitz, Kathryn ?, Nancy Mertz, Jan Severtson, Shirley Sturts and Judy Waring.
May, 26, 2007 - no write-up
June 2012
Lisa Hardy
Well, we picked about the most dismal day in June for the Century Count, and had our worst total ever - 88 species, even counting the Rock Pigeon seen by Janet Callen and "probably seen" by Carrie Hugo. Of course, we know that the world is going to end in December according to the Mayan calendar, so perhaps the results from our Shoshone County "big day" were not unexpected. The cold temperatures, and rain from mid-day on, kept most birds hunkered down and silent.
Things started out well enough in cool, cloudy conditions as we walked the trail both downstream and upstream of Enaville. Next we birded the Page swamps and sewage ponds, and by the time we headed up the North Fork to look for the Tennessee Warbler at about 10:30 AM we had a respectable 60 species under our belts. But then the rain started, and we had to work hard for every addition to our list. The Tennessee Warbler remained unresponsive, but we finally found a dipper after some searching.
Returning to the valley of the South Fork, we lost participants at a steady rate, while eking out a few more hard-won additions to our checklists. Century Count - Continued from page 4 A few urban species, such as crow, Eurasian Collared-Dove and starling, seemed unfazed by the rain, but we searched in vain for a humble House Sparrow, even infiltrating the Wal-Mart garden center, attired in our binocs and foul-weather gear.
Nancy and Sally called it quits after we raised an irritated response from a bedraggled Savannah Sparrow west of Kellogg, which fortunately approached closely enough for us to distinguish through our rain-fogged optics. Janet finally bailed about 6:30 PM after she, Carrie and I broadcast calls for Sora, Virginia Rail and American Bittern over the east Page swamp. raising only a feeble response from a lone, chilled Sora. Carrie and I stuck it out for another hour, scraping out another 3 species, the last being a bittern doing its oddball but thoroughly welcome gulping at west Page swamp in a steady rain.
What is interesting about the day is that we picked up a number of species that are difficult to find in the county, such as Bewick's Wren, Rock Wren, Ruddy Duck and Ring-billed Gull. But in Shoshone County, a successful big day requires tallying ALL of the usual suspects, plus some of the more elusive species, and we fell short on the usual suspects.
Participants: Kris Buchler, Janet Callen, Ken Fisher, Lisa Hardy, Carrie Hugo, Sally Jones, Nancy Mertz, Jan Severtson, Shirley Sturts, Jaquith Travis.
June 10, 2017
Lisa Hardy
This year, the Shoshone County Century Count birding party was not snowed on. We did though, pass through three rain showers, including one with hail, and another that produced a rainbow.
Our group of six started at the Enaville bike trailhead and walked downstream a mile, then upstream a half mile, yielding a good start of 43 species, including Veery and Black-billed Magpie (very local in the county). Then with our party reduced to four, we traveled to the Page swamp and water treatment ponds where we picked up 15 more species. In Kellogg we located another 6. At mid-day, we headed for high elevation by driving up the Burke road until we reached snow just before the intersection with Lower Glidden Lake road. After being pelted with hail, this side trip proved fruitful as we picked up Wilson's Warbler, Varied Thrush and Olive-sided Flycatcher, among others, to bring us up to 83 species. Highlights were hearing a singing Brown Creeper, and finding a dipper at a bridge, right where it should be.
We found only a dribble of new species for the rest of the day. We returned to Wallace, and walked a bit up the Pulaski Trail, but with no new species. Then off to Shoshone Park above Mullan, where we found the elusive Evening Grosbeak on the road to Mullan Pass. We returned west and drove the Wall Ridge road. From several pullouts we had sweeping views of the Coeur d'Alene River below, where we spotted distant Common Mergansers. A Redtail Hawk soared by, and near the county line, a Ruffed Grouse attempted to join our birding party by flying into the window of our moving vehicle. Our final destination was a return to the Page ponds, this time in a squall. We admired the rainbow produced in the wake of the squall, and then returned to our parked cars at Smelterville, where we heard nighthawks foraging high above us in the clean-washed sky, a fitting ending to the day.
We did well to have a clean sweep on the warblers and icterids. Notable misses were Turkey Vulture, Wilson's Snipe, Vaux's Swift, all the hummingbirds, Rock Pigeon, Mountain Bluebird, Red Crossbill and House Sparrow.
Participants: Kris Buchler, Mary Deasey, Sally Gundlach, Lisa Hardy, Tammy Piearson & friend
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Species - 139 Total2002 2007 2012 2017 Canada Goose1 x x x Wood Duck2 x x x x Gadwall3 x x x x American Wigeon4 x Mallard5 x x x x Blue-winged Teal6 x x x Cinnamon Teal7 x x x x Northern Shoveler8 x x x x Green-winged Teal9 x x x x Redhead10 x x x x Ring-necked Duck11 x x x x Lesser scaup12 x Bufflehead13 x Common Goldeneye14 Hooded Merganser15 x x x Common Merganser16 x x x x Ruddy Duck17 x x x x Ring-necked Pheasant18 Ruffed Grouse19 x x Wild Turkey20 x x California Quail21 x Common Loon22 Pied-billed Grebe23 x Red-neckded Grebe24 Western Grebe25 American Bittern26 x American White Pelican27 Double-crested Cormorant28 Great Blue Heron29 x x x Turkey Vulture30 x Osprey31 x Bald Eagle32 x x x x Northern Harrier33 x x x x Cooper'sHawk34 x Sharp-shinned Hawk35 x Red-tailed Hawk36 x x American Kestrel37 Virginia Rail38 x Sora39 x x American Coot40 x x x x Killdeer41 x x x x Spotted Sandpiper42 x x x x Wilson's Snipe43 x x Wilson's Phalarope44 x Ring-billed Gull45 x x Rock Pigeon46 x x x Mourning Dove47 x x Eurasian-collared Dove48 x x Common Nighthawk49 x x Great Horned Owl50 Northern Pygmy-Owl51 Vaux's Swift52 x Black-chinned Hummingbird53 x x Calliope Hummingbird54 x x Rufous Hummingbird55 x x Belted Kingfisher56 x x x x Red-naped Sapsuker57 x x x Downy Woodpecker58 x x Hairy Woodpecker59 x x Northern Flicker60 x x x x Pileated Woodpecker61 x x Olive-sided Flycatcher62 x x x Western Wood-Pewee63 x x x x Willow Flycatcher64 x x x Least Flcatcher65 Hammond's Flycatcher66 x x x x Dusky Flycatcher67 Western Flycatcher68 x x x x Eastern Kingbird69 x x x x Cassin's Vireo70 x x x x Warbling Vireo71 x x x x Red-eyed Vireo73 x x x Gray Jay74 x Steller's Jay75 x x x Black-billed Magpie76 x x x x American Crow77 x x Common Raven78 x x x x Tree Swallow79 x x x x Violet-green Swallow80 x x x x N-Rough-winged Swallow81 x x x x Bank Swalloew82 x Cliff Swallow83 x x x x Barn Swallow84 x x x x Black-capped Chickadee85 x x x x Mountain Chickadee86 Chestnut-b Chickadee87 x x x x Red-breasted Nuthatch88 x x x x Pygmy Nuthatch89 Brown Creeper90 x x Rock Wren91 x Bewick's Wren92 x x House Wren93 x x x x Pacific Wren94 x x x American Dipper95 x x x x Golden-crowned Kinglet96 x x x x Ruby-crowned Kinglet97 x x Western Bluebird98 x Mountain Bluebird99 x x x Townsend's Solitaire100 x x Veery101 x x x x Swainson's Thrush102 x x x x American Robin103 x x x x Varied Thrush104 x x x Gray Catbird105 x x x x European Starling106 x x x x Cedar Waxing107 x x x Orange-crowned Warbler108 x x x x Nashville Warbler109 x x x Yellow Warbler110 x x x x Yellow-rumped Warbler111 x x x x Townsend's Warbler112 x x x x American Redstart113 x x x x Northern Waterthrush114 x x x x MacGillivray's Warbler115 x x x x Common Yellowthroat116 x x x x Wilson's Warbler117 x x Western Tanager118 x x x x Spotted Towhee119 x x x x Chipping Sparrow120 x x x x Savannah Sparrow121 x x x x Song Sparrow122 x x x x White-crowned Warbler140 x Dark-eyed Junco123 x Black-headed Grosbeak124 x x x x Lazuli Bunting125 x x Red-winged Blackbird126 x x x x Western Meadowlark128 x x Yellow-headed Blackbird129 x x x x Brewer's Blackbird130 x x x x Brown-headed Cowbird131 x x x x Bullock's Oriolle132 x x x Cassin's Finch133 x x House Finch134 x x x x Red Crossbill135 x x Pine Siskin136 x x x x Ameican Goldfinch137 x Evening Grosbeak138 x x x House Sparrow139 x x TOTAL SPECIES99 88 88 83