Date May 26, 2022
Location LeHardy Rapids, Yellowstone National Park, WY
LeHardy rapids is the most reliable place to find Harlequin Ducks. They were, of course, spectacular to behold.
Monday, May 30, 2022
335. Dusky Flycatcher
Date May 25, 2022
Location Market Lake Wildlife Management Area, Roberts, ID
For this bird's picture I'm taking the unusual step of showing the page from the field guide instead of an actual photograph because this page (and the Audubon app) were integral to the identification. I made the ID on this Empidonax flycatcher without using voice, so a thorough explanation is warranted.
First, a description of what I saw. There were two white wing bars and a complete white eye ring. I also viewed it from behind -- the head was essentially gray and the back a greenish-gray, both of intermediate shade (neither dark nor light).
This particular habitat was a small forested area near an extensive wetlands. I was not in the mountains. The trees were mostly deciduous.
Even though this was obviously an Empidonax, and it wasn't making any noise (call or song), I decided to give a shot at identifying it, even though I usually don't bother trying under such circumstances.
I first narrowed it down by range. Only one eastern bird made the cut (Least), and four western birds were possible: Hammond's, Gray, Dusky, and Cordilleran. Least seemed unlikely since it was the extreme western edge of its range; Gray was out of range, but only by a little bit, so I included them for completeness.
Least is described as having a "rather bold white eye ring," and I did not observe this. The white eye ring was there, but it was thin. Along with the unlikelihood due to range, I eliminated Least.
Gray was eliminated rather easily since it is mostly gray and white -- no greenish or olive-colored areas. Plus, as noted above, it would be out of range according to the field guide. The season-specific drawings in my field guide were particularly useful here, as the Gray does have some olive coloration in the winter, but not in the spring.
Hammond's was eliminated by both habitat and eye ring. Hammond's are generally in coniferous woods in the mountains, which was not the habitat I was in as noted above. Also, the eye ring flares out creating an "almond" shape. As noted above, I saw a simple eye ring.
Cordilleran can also be eliminated by habitat, as in breeds in coniferous forests in the mountains, not the lowlands where I was. The wing bar on the Cordilleran is also less white.
This leaves only Dusky, and perhaps the flip side of the question: does Dusky match what I saw? In other words, rather than eliminating all the possibilities and being left with one, can I start with Dusky and match it to what I saw? The answer is yes. Coloration, habitat, range, eye ring, and wing bars all match the Dusky.
I never thought I would be able to identify an Empid without sound, or perhaps even dared, but there were enough clues in this case to be confident about the ID.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
334. Calliope Hummingbird
Date May 24, 2022
Location Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company, Grand Teton National Park, WY
After successfully identifying the Broad-tailed, we were watching another hummingbird on the north side of the trail, across and downhill a bit from the Broad-tailed's favorite perch. I was stuck on the idea that this might be a Calliope because the range fit and, well, it did look rather small, even though I know this is an unreliable cue. In any case, we had plenty of opportunity to observe him because he was doing courtship flight displays.
During some iterations, he would fly high up in the air, and then, with his back turned toward us, gradually descend to a favored perch. This gave us a great view of the shiny green back feathers. Other times he would do the U-shaped display.
While on the perch, he would flare out his gorget feathers, giving us a fantastic view of the brilliant iridescent fuchsia (and solidly diagnostic) "color." The sun was behind us now, so we got all the color available. The photo above is very similar to what we were able to witness through our binoculars.
333. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Date May 24, 2022
Location Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company, Grand Teton National Park, WY
We arrived to eat lunch after our river raft adventure. As we exited the vehicle, Logan and I heard a buzzing sound that we couldn't really identify but sounded intriguing. We went inside the restaurant.
North of the restaurant is a short paved trail to the Snake river and a small historical display of an old river ferry. As we sat at our table waiting for our pizza, we looked out the window in that direction and saw two hummingbirds. After eating, we decided to investigate further. At first, we didn't get our binoculars because it seemed like a long shot, but after seeing a fox and another hummingbird, we ran to get our optics out of the Jeep.
The Broad-tailed was spotted first (another species is described in the next entry). He kept coming back to the same perch over and over just a little ways down the path. The photo above is our actual photo of this bird, taken by Mieka on her iPhone. Unfortunately, the sun was mostly behind the bird from this vantage point, so the throat was mostly black, but we did manage to see a little magenta on the edge of the throat.
332. Mountain Chickadee
Date May 23, 2022
Location Taggart Lake Trail, Grand Teton National Park, WY
I heard this one calling, but I'm very familiar with the Black-capped/Carolina vs. Mountain calls, so the ID is solid. I had an experienced western birder with me as well to confirm. The pine trees prevented me from actually finding him/her.
Edit: a couple of days later I saw one building a nest in Yellowstone NP.
331. Violet-green Swallow
Date May 22, 2022
Location Perrine Memorial Bridge, Twin Falls, ID
On the east side of the bridge near the landing zone for the BASE jumpers, I spied several swallows flying about the south cliff face. Viewing through binoculars, I was able to easily see the green, purple, and white in all the right places as seen in the photo above. The sun was shining and I was viewing them from above, so everything was very clear.
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