Field notes, v1701
Page 35
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
secured and we returned to the main road. At the junction we observed several Muddy Ducks, an Eared Grebe, a lone Canada Goose, and many Teal swimming in a marshy lake west of the main highway. A single Shoveller Duck was standing on a small island in the center of the lake. Several Redheads were also seen here. In the sagebrush covered extensive rolling areas between Nagerman and Mountain Home, several pairs of Sage Thrashers and two Crows were seen. We left Mountain Home at about 3:30 turned southward and stopped about 4 miles south of town in the center of an expansive flat sagebrush plain. Here, while we shot wary small ground squirrels, we also observed Sage Thrashers and Sage Sparrows singing from the tops of Artemisia bushes. I stumbled on a Brewer Sparrow's nest situated about 14 inches from the ground in the center of a low Artemisia bush. It seemed very small in size for a sparrow's nest and contained 4 exceedingly small eggs, light blue spotted with brown on the larger end. The parents were very much disturbed as our presence and both stayed near the nest while we were there; however, the parents would not condescend to sit on the eggs while the camera was set up operated by remote control from a distance. During a two hour stay at this spot, we collected 9 specimens of Cithrus idahoensis (7 adult and 1 young) and 1 specimen of