The purpose of the club is to promote bird watching among its members and with the general public and to encourage environmental conservation. The club meets every month on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the Visitor Center at Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge. The meetings start at 7:00 p.m. and include a program about bird watching or another nature topic.
Each month the club hosts one or two fieldtrips. The fieldtrips take us to many areas around the state or into eastern Oregon. Depending on the season, you can be assured to see wintering, migratory, or resident birds.
Visitors are always welcome at the meetings and fieldtrips.
SIBA Members only: If you are a current member of Southwestern Idaho Birders Association, please log in to access 'member only' pages. If you have never logged in to the 'member only' pages, please click 'create account' and a user name and password will be emailed to you. After you have logged in, click on "my account" to change your password.
- - - Daggett Creek on Hwy 21
- - - Silver City, located in Owyhee County
It's time for Summer Bird Watching
As the temperatures start to rise, it’s time to visit the higher elevations. The first field trip in June is to Daggett Creek along Hwy 21. As we leave the Treasure Valley and climb toward ponderosa forests we find the birds that nest in the higher elevations to avoid the summer heat. We’ll start the day with a walk along More’s Creek, looking for chats, catbirds, wrens, and many other species. If you cannot walk the trail along the creek, join Hilda and others as they stay near the creek and compile their own 'list' of birds (in some years, their list has been longer than the group that hiked the creek area). After the bird walk, we’ll head up Daggett Creek Road to the Larson Ranch and picnic on the lawn. The famed ‘forced march’ after lunch is optional, though in past years the hikers have seen a Northern Pygmy Owl, mountain lion and black bear.
At the end of June, a trip to Silver City is great way to spend a day. This trip takes us through several different habitat zones. We'll start in the sage brush steppe which is a good place for lark and brewer sparrows and Swainson’s hawks and continue to climb towards a riparian area. In the riparian zone, look for sapsuckers, vireos, and buntings. The road takes us even higher into a juniper forest where chickadees, nuthatches, warblers, and bluebirds can be found. In the old mining town of Silver City, several species of birds can be found including the Broad tailed Hummingbird.
Check the calendar for the dates and times and join us as we head for the hills and look for nesting bird species.