Idaho Bird Observatory: Part 2

The view from Lucky Peak was dense with smoke on an eerily yellow/orange colored day last Friday. The smoke was from wildfires raging far to the north near rain-deprived Salmon, Idaho, and the view to Boise in the valley below was almost totally obscured. At the end of the trap day, almost everyones eyes were bloodshot from smoke. Smoke aside, however, it was a great day to trap birds as winds were calm and out of the northwest, perfect migrating conditions for raptors on the movie south. We were also lucky enough to have noted raptor biologist Bill Clark (pictured at left with a Cooper’s Hawk) in the blind with us all day. Bill is a raptor identification specialist, and it was an amazing experience to have such an expert with us all day. In all, we trapped 25 raptors from about noon to 7:30pm, my busiest day trapping yet! We managed to trap another juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, along with four Cooper’s Hawks (pictured at right), and numerous Sharp-Shinned Hawks and American Kestrels. A beer never tasted so good on my smoke-parched throat! Stay tuned until next week for more updates from IBO.

Neil Paprocki