Boise residents know there are a lot of birds that live or pass through the city. Now the city's Parks and Recreation department has published a field guide that highlights species commonly found around town.
The Field Guide to Boise’s Birds is available online. All the pictures were taken by area photographers in local Boise settings, from Harris Ranch to Kathryn Albertson Park.
Jerry Pugh, with Boise Parks and Recreation, says the new guide can be used in city parks, neighborhoods and open spaces by birders of all levels.
“Just seemed like a great thing to put together for birders of all ranges, but specifically we tried to tailor it to the beginning birder, someone who could easily pick this up that’s never been out there that would be able to go and look for these birds and refer to the guide,” says Pugh.
Pugh says they focused on 99 birds, from the Canadian Goose to the Osprey to the Western Tanager.
“I mean there’s hundreds and hundreds of birds that are out there but we wanted to focus on birds that folks could easily and readily see while they’re out visiting the parks and all areas of Boise.”
He says they still need photographs of more than a dozen birds.
“The photos that we are lacking are the birds that are really quick of flight, that don’t sit still very long and they’re just hard to get photo of.”
Anyone can submit a photo, which could be included when a printed version of the guide comes out, probably next year.
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