Montana, which occupied the bulk of Weeks Thirty-five and Thirty-six, was perhaps one of my most anticipated states this year. The state which concluded Week Thirty-six and would occupy the first half Week Thirty-seven, on the other hand, was perhaps one of my least anticipated. That shouldn’t be taken as a shot towards Idaho; I haven’t a thing against The Land of Famous Potatoes and nor did I expect the birding to be subpar, I just didn’t expect it to be sublime either. I suppose by now I really should have learned my lesson, however, as nearly every other state for which my expectations have been rather low the birding has blown me out of the water. After Sunday’s 105-species initiation that certainly seemed to be the case for The Spud State as well. Despite undoubtedly having a lower species total due to the type of birding I’d be doing, could Monday continue what the preceding day had begun?
Getting up about thirty minutes later than planned (in my defense I’d had quite the drive the previous evening), I hit the road headed south from Twin Falls around 7am to begin making my way towards The South Hills of Idaho. Beyond just adding more diversity to my state bird list and exploring more varied habitat than the desert plains of yesterday, my sights were set on two species in particular: Cassia Crossbill and Flammulated Owl.
The first of these species, Cassia Crossbill, is one that could potentially be lumped back in with Red Crossbills eventually. Formerly considered the same species, Cassia Crossbills are visually identical to Red and were split off as a separate species back in 2017 due to a few unique traits including, most notably, them being endemic to the South Hills of Idaho – the majority of which is in Cassia County. I won’t get too into (or, for that matter, even pretend I fully understand) the complicated, monotonous tedium that dictates what is and isn’t a species, but what matters most for now is that, as of my time in Idaho in September 2025, Cassia Crossbills are a separate species and therefore finding one would be a Lifer for me. They are theoretically relatively common in the region, however they are visually identical to Red Crossbills (which are also found in the area) and have a call that isn’t especially easy to distinguish to the unfamiliar ear and can only be absolutely confidently identified by spectrographic analysis of an audio recording.
The second species, Flammulated Owl, has much less controversy surrounding its speciation status, though in addition to be a challenging enough species to track down when and where they are most common, by September they are predominantly silent and a very tough bird to find. So: one relatively bird that’s potentially difficult to confidently identify and another uncommon species that’s hard to find to begin with. I had quite the challenge ahead of me.
After spotting a few Red-tailed Hawks on utility poles on the drive south, the day’s birding effectively began when I turned onto Shoshone Basin Road – the first of several stretches of birding by car for the day. Golden Eagle, Rock Wren, and Lewis’s Woodpecker were a solid trio of pickups, the latter of which threw me for a loop at first as a utility pole in desert sagebrush habitat was not where I expected to find one. After Shoshone Basin Road I turned first to Magic Hot Springs Road and then Basin Road, spotting a Sagebrush Sparrow along the second – a slightly more expected bird given the habitat. Eventually I found myself on Magic Mountain Road, on which I would spend the bulk of the day. Along Magic Mountain Road I continued working my way up into the mountains in search of the birding magic necessary to conjure my targets for the day. A short distance up the road I made a pitstop at the Brockman’s Hummingbird Feeding Station, which was an array of feeders set up all over the place without any real good way to view them. From what I’ve heard not much earlier in the year this setup is absolutely buzzing with hummingbirds, but as many of the birds have already begun to migrate the activity was a bit lesser during my visit with the station “only” hosting about 10 birds, of which I could identify at least four Black-chinned Hummingbird, one Calliope Hummingbird, and two Rufous Hummingbird. I spent about an hour at the feeders before continuing up the road and picking up Mountain Bluebird, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Spotted Towhee for my Idaho list.
Eventually I found myself entering Cassia County and setting up for lunch at the Diamondfield Jack Campground and Picnic Area, where after going for a short walk (during which I picked up, among other things, Red Crossbill) and preparing then eating my lunch I prepared to head out to continue searching for Crossbills elsewhere. Just before I left, though, I helped a mom and her daughters set up a tent they were struggling with, and as I made my way back to my car I head a distinct “pik pik pik, pik pik” – Crossbills to be sure, but of which variety? I immediately pulled out my phone and began recording as I scanned the sky for the birds, a trio of which soon passed overhead. Cassia Crossbill, Lifer #621. I then gleefully made my way back towards Magic Mountain Road to kill time until the evening, stopping briefly at the Pettit Campground where immediately upon entry I was greeted by two more flyover Cassia Crossbills – this time in Twin Falls County though rather than the county from which they draw their name.
The next couple hours were spent meandering my way down and then back up Magic Mountain Road, during which I spotted a covey of California Quail and a couple Lesser Goldfinch, and eventually dusk came and with it my search for Flammulated Owl began. A short while into this search I heard a calling bird in the distance – not a Flammy, but another great bird in Common Poorwill. It was great to hear another Poorwill after just getting my Lifer a bit over a week earlier, but the excitement of the Poorwill was almost immediately outdone when I heard my target: Lifer #622, Flammulated Owl. Safe to say the South Hills had been well worth the stop; one difficult to identify bird identified, and another difficult to find bird found.
After the excitement of Monday, the rest of my time in Idaho would, unfortunately, be rather unpleasant. This would have nothing to do with the state itself, though, but rather because as I began the drive from Twin Falls to Boise I began to experience some sort of nasty stomach bug that left me, for all intents and purposes, leashed to within five minutes of a bathroom for the next couple days. As a result I didn’t do all that much birding on the 9th, but visits to Foote Park and the Diane Moore Nature Center produced Bewick’s Wren, Yellow-breasted Chat, Lazuli Bunting, Wood Duck, and Cooper’s Hawk. The 10th wasn’t much better, as my only birding was a visit to Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge that, with Red-necked Phalarope, California Gull, and Fox Sparrow brought my final total for Idaho to 136.
All said my birding – at least the birding I managed before getting sick – for Idaho was pretty great. With just two days of real birding, though, Idaho is one of the states this year which I explored the least – an unfortunate situation the state was both gorgeous and had some solid bird diversity.
By the end of the day on Wednesday I was feeling much better, but rather than continuing my time in Idaho I decided to make my way west for Oregon – my second-to-last new state for the year. While ultimately my time in Oregon would be very great, my first impression was rather… underwhelming. Shortly after crossing state lines a semi truck in front of me veered sightly into the shoulder, where it kicked up a handful of rocks. Two of these rocks collided with my windshield, both creating rather severe craterous impact sites and branches of cracks out from then, far beyond anything that windshield repair gel or the likes could do anything about. The good news, I suppose, is that for the moment the cracks were (and are) not obscuring my view to the point of being hazardous. The bad news, though, is that in the days since those cracks have slowly spread and should they continue to do so they will likely soon become a problem. Worse yet, though, is that because of my Subaru’s “EyeSight” technology, the cost of replacing a windshield can be upwards of $2,000 – and while insurance will cover part of this I am liable to have to foot a bill of about $1,000 – this coming in the heels of the $5,500 I just spent taking care of everything else car related. Ugh. I genuinely hadn’t planned on mentioning it again, but… my GoFundMe is linked down below if you’re interested in helping out with the seemingly never-ending calamity that is my impending impecuniosity.
Following the cracked windshield and a quick stop at the Ontario Welcome Center along I-84, my birding began rather slowly with a few hours of driving, during which I racked up 16 species including Swainson’s Hawk, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, and Golden Eagle. Eventually I arrived at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where I got started on my first serious birding for my time in The Beaver State. My two hours there were rather productive, during which I tallied a 47 species checklist including Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, Violet-green Swallow, Vesper Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Orange-crowned Warbler.
From Malheur I continued west, and after driving by the entrance to a spot known as the Chickahominy Recreation Area I did a quick U-turn and decided to investigate the site. Chickahominy Reservoir was well worth the stop between a plethora of ducks including Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, and Ruddy Duck as well as other great pickups in Red-necked Phalarope, Horned Grebe, Sage Thrasher, and Sagebrush Sparrow. From there I continued west until I arrived at the town of Bend and called it a day, with my 70 species tallied during the day being a great start to my time in Oregon. After a couple hours working on my blog post for last week I headed to the local Walmart to settle in for the night. Before going to sleep my dad texted to ask where I was staying for the night, and after I replied a rather amusing coincidence was uncovered.
During my dad’s tenure as the Executive Director at Seven Ponds Nature Center he frequently led birding field tours to various parts of the country, and following his retirement from that position back at the end of July he stayed on as Seven Ponds’ Birding Field Tour Coordinator. I knew that, as I entered Oregon, he was in the process of leading the first of his post-retirement field tours in, of all places, Oregon. He and I had made plans to meet up for a couple days of birding following the end of this tour and talked about me possible joining them for dinner on Sunday around Portland, however the possibility that our paths may cross before then hadn’t occurred to either of us. Yet, when I texted him the pin to the Bend Walmart, the response of “We are also in Bend!” came rather quickly. After a short back and forth I hopped back in my driver’s seat and made my way to the hotel where his group was stating and spend the night inside the room instead.
The next morning, rather than continuing on towards the coast as I’d originally planned, I joined the Seven Ponds group, which was a party of 17 led by my dad, the new Executive Director Carrie Spencer, and their hired local guide Dave Irons. Our first stop was a short one at Sisters Ponderosa Lodge, where there wasn’t much apart from some Mountain Chickadee and Pygmy Nuthatch. Along the nearby Three Creeks Lake Road things heated up a bit with Clark’s Nutcracker, White-headed Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush and Red Crossbill.
The great start to the day continued at the Upper Three Creek SnoPark parking lot with Williamson’s Sapsucker, Steller’s Jay, Townsend’s Solitaire, and Pine Siskin. After a bit more birding in the area we stopped for lunch in Sisters at the Village Green City Park, where when we arrived a few California Scrub-Jay were making a racket in a nearby tree.
The highlight of the day’s birding was the stop following lunch, though, as at the Trout Creek Swamp we snagged another Williamson’s Sapsucker, Canada Jay, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Townsend’s Warbler, and a heard-only American Goshawk. Along the nearby Trout Creek Butte Road we picked up my first Golden-crowned Sparrow since March along with an assortment of other songbirds.
The day’s birding came to a close with a stop at the Dee Wright Observatory, which wasn’t especially birdy aside from a few Red Crossbills hanging out right along the path and nearby rocks out in the open frequently less than 10 feet away. A short distance down the hill from the observatory Band-tailed Pigeon and Mountain Bluebird brought me to 100 species for Oregon – 47 states down, one to go.
The next morning I continued my birding with the Seven Ponds crew, accompanying them on an outing south from Bend which was kicked off on Cabin Lake Road near Fort Rock State Natural Area with California Quail, Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, Sagebrush Sparrow, and American Kestrel. After that short stop we headed towards Fort Rock State Park, where upon arrival we spotted a distant Ferruginous Hawk, and soon after picked up Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, White-throated Swift, Say’s Pheoebe, American Pipit, and more.
After leaving the state park we spotted Golden Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, and Loggerhead Shrike perched on utility poles and wires as we made our way to Cabin Lake. At Cabin Lake the group split in two to the spots two different blinds, and I evidently made the correct choice as the upper blind was quickly packed with Red Crossbills after we settled in. Soon those Crossbills were joined by a couple more exciting species in several Cassin’s Finch and a female Lazuli Bunting, which elicited the group that headed to the lower blind to abandon their post and come up to try to spot our birds. Before we left the spot a group of at least 100 Pinyon Jays passed by, most at a distance but some coming in to the trees around us.
Before continuing on to our next stop we swung back by Fort Rock State Park for a bathroom break, during which we spotted a Common Poorwill sitting out in the open, taking the bird off my heard-only list. We then made quick detour along Connley Lane to check out the nearby raptors, which included at least six different Ferruginous Hawks, five Red-tailed Hawks and a Bald Eagle. From there we spent a while heading south before stopping for lunch at the Summer Lake Rest Area, where we spotted several Anna’s Hummingbirds and Rufous Hummingbirds at a feeder setup across the road and tallied a few other great birds including Townsend’s Solitaire, Warbling Vireo, and Western Tanager.
After lunch the rest of the day’s birding came at Summer Lake Wildlife Area, where we had a fantastic two and a half hours. Shortly after entering we spotted a group of Trumpeter Swans and an assortment of ducks and geese, including Canvasback and Greater White-fronted Goose. As we continued our birding we added Sora, Virginia Rail, Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Red-necked Phalarope, American Bittern, and more.
Things picked up right at the end of our time at Summer Lake with the spotting first of several Long-billed Dowitchers, then a Wilson’s Phalarope and a locally-uncommon American Golden-Plover, and finally by three Sabine’s Gulls. The last of those birds was not only a first-of-year bird, but also included the first adult I’ve ever seen of the species and by far the best looks I’ve ever gotten.
Sunday morning I planned to part ways with the group, though not until after joining them for their first couple stops. The first of these stops was at a recent burn site along Siah Butte Road, where upon arriving shortly before the group’s vans I immediately heard and soon after spotted at least a couple Black-backed Woodpeckers. With one of the birds in sight the group pulled up, and then suddenly the bird was gone. It took extensive effort – mostly from Dave – until we were eventually able to locate another, but after we did my dad was able to get it in the scope and the group all managed good looks. After one more quick stop at the Hosner Lake Nature Trails I bid the group farewell and headed out while they ate lunch, making my way towards Portland.
I continued working on last week’s post for a while before meeting back up with my dad at his hotel room, and we made our plans for the next couple days now that the tour was concluded. On Monday I would drop off my car to get what was supposed to be the last of my needed repairs taken care of – though now yet more are needed as a result of the windshield cracks – and then hop in my dad’s rental continue down the coast. These next two days of birding on Monday and Tuesday of next week’s post would be the last time I’d see my dad for quite some time – possible as long as until next April. After those couple days I planned to spend another few days in the Portland area before moving north and getting started on state forty-eight out of forty-eight in Washington.
Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Following recent suggestions I went ahead and created a GoFundMe in order to help ensure I can keep this adventure going and afford the costs of gas, vehicle maintenance, and food (including, with enough support, some more diversity in my diet). The GoFundMe can be accessed by clicking the image link with the coin going into the donation box. (If anyone knows how to add a custom icon on Elemetor to make the Venmo and GoFundMe Links their respective logos, I'd love to hear how to do it!)
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
