WC nd Mrs. WC made a short road trip this week, chasing winter birds. The trip was amazingly successful, and there will be more than one blog post about it. Among the highlights a lifer and two and half species photographed for the first time.

The target birds – a primary reason for the trip – were Gray-crowned Rosy-finch and Black Rosy Finch, species that spend most of their lives at very high altitudes. In winter, they descend to alpine valleys when snowfall makes foraging higher up impossible. We’d had reports of both species at feeders outside of Ketchum. But shortly before we left, we were told the birds were no longer around. We spent some time in south-central Idaho anyway, and as we were heading back to Boise Mrs. WC got a text message saying the birds were back. With help from Poo Wright-Pulliam and her friend, Joanna, we…