April 15, 1944 - Mtn. Home, Idaho - 2 Short-eared Owls near the edge of town. April 17, 1944 -/ Mtn. Home, Ida, 830 a.m. to 12 noon. To reservoir north of twon 3 miles and back. Clear sky, cold NW wind, ice on small ponds. Joan and I W. Robin Amer. Pipit Marsh Hawks doing perfect loop-the-loops W. Meadowlark Desert Horned Lark Brewer Blackbird, W. Ruby-cr. Kinglet House Finch Nevada Redwings W. Crow Mallard Raven Baldpate NW or White-rumped Shrike 2 M Shoveller ducks Buffehead 3M&2F Pintails Coots (3) Flicker English Sparrow Black-billed Magpies Black-billed Magpie nest studies continued: Nest 1: 6 eggs - in dead bush, 4' high (The hts. are from the ground to the rim of the actual nest cup or cavity.) Nest 2: 8 eggs - in rosebush at 2 1/2 feet Nest A: 4 eggs - in willow 44" high Nest B: 0 eggs - In willow 5' high - on April 12, this nest had 3 eggs. We to the rim of the actual nest cup or cavity.) Nest C: 7 eggs - in rosebush 2 1/2' highould find no trace of the eggs. Nest D: 1 egg - in willow, 3' high (Nests B and D are in isolated bushes Nest E: 3 eggs - in dead willow, 3' high that is open for at least 25' around Nest E was observed on April 12, and was a nest of last year. them) Since April 12 it had been rebuilt and occupied. As 3 eggs are missing from Nest B, could they have been carried by the parent birds to this new nest? The two nests are approximately 250' apart. We observed 6 pairs of magpies and there are 7 nests. (One deactivated as of now.) April 17, 1944 AREA II - South of Mtn Home. 1 mile. Slow-moving creek, sage, brier, and willow. 1-5 p.m. Warm and windy. broken sky, cumulus clouds.. Joan and I Mallards Pipts White-crowned Sparrow (gray extends Desert Horned Larks Pheasants well-down back of neck) W. Robins Chipping Sparrow saw one Coyote Marsh Hawks, observed dark and light phases doing loop-the-loop dives. Flushed a female from the brush where it may have been trying to get a Cottontail that we flushed from the same brush. Also Joan and I located the site where a pair (possibly these two birds) are constructing a nest. It was the male, light-colored phase doing the building. We watched it carry nesting materialto it. Short-eared Owls, flushed 2 from under sagebrush where they were sitting. They did not fly far, and we walked over and flushed them again. Very fast fliers W. Ruby-crown Kinglet Chukar Partridge - gave call notes while in flight./ Nevada Towhee found a pair of Redwing wings remaining from some kill. Also found six dead magpies in the area. Weasel, found the remains of one killed by A Marsh Hawk. Tail was 5-6" long with a 1" black tip. Body 6" long and colored light red-brown and white. Head was 1 1/4 -1 1/2". Black-billed Magpies. There were 30 or 40 in this area and we recorded data on 17 of their nests. There were several more that we didn't go to: Nest # No. eggs arrangement Ht. Nest(ft.) vegetation type 1 6 2 0 3 2 4 8 5 8 6 7 7 6 8 6 9 6 10 7 11 6 12 6 13 6 14 8 15 6 eggs small 16 7 17 4 TOTAL 99 EGGS 84 = 4.941 FT = 5 FT. AVE. HEIGHT WILLOW = 12 SAGEBRUSH = 2 HAWTHORNE = 2 UNKNOWN = 1