Thursday, December 8, 2016 | B5
Times-News
OUTDOORS
New snow tube hill prepares to open KAREN BOSSICK
For the Times-News
COURTESY OF DARREN CLARK
Rexburg birder Darren Clark wasn’t the first person to spot the winter wren in Twin Falls in late November, but he was the first to get clear photos of it.
The bird sighting that caused a stir VIRGINIA HUTCHINS
vhutchins@magicvalley.com
TWIN FALLS — Another birder might have figured that chirping in the shrubs was just another song sparrow. Austin Young suspected otherwise. The Idaho State University freshman, home for T h a n ksg iv i n g , was birding alone on the overcast, chilly morning of Nov. 23 along the Young dirt road to Auger Falls Heritage Park. This road in the Snake River Canyon is a favorite of Magic Valley birders and the route of one of their annual Christmas Bird Counts. But this energetically vocal bird in the shrubs, Young thought, might be one they’d never documented here. He could see a couple of field marks: a light breast and white speckling on the back and shoulder. But the bird never emerged long enough for Young to take a photograph that was more than a blur, an image that would determine whether the bird was a Pacific wren or a winter wren. And it’s no small difference.
In 2010, on the basis of vocalizations and genetics, scientists split what they once considered a single species into three: the Pacific wren of western North America, the winter wren of eastern North America and the Eurasian wren. The Pacific wren? Entirely predictable here. But the winter wren? Since the 2010 split, Idaho had only two confirmed records of winter wren, one in November 2014 near Troy, and one the next month in Caldwell. Fortunately, to a birder like Young, the two wrens sound nothing alike. Of course, Young was something of a wonder child in Magic Valley birding. While he was still a Filer High School track star, fellow birders invited Young to lead a field trip at the 2014 Hagerman Bird Festival. At the festival two years later, the high school senior taught a sparrow identification workshop and led another field trip. A few years ago, he photographed what would have been Idaho’s first record for laughing gull — if the VIRGINIA HUTCHINS, TIMES-NEWS Idaho Bird Records Committee Birders Melody Asher, left, Pat Weber, Sarah Harris and Charlotte had confirmed it. Eberlein look for a winter wren — a rare find for Idaho — Dec. 3 along the Please see BIRD, Page B6 road to Auger Falls Heritage Park in Twin Falls.
Magic Mountain sets opening day VIRGINIA HUTCHINS
Resort details
vhutchins@magicvalley.com
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HANSEN — After grooming ski runs Tuesday morning, Gary Miller made the decision: Magic Mountain Resort will open both its ski lift and its Magic Carpet on Saturday. And the resort owner is making an opening-day offer to beginners of any age, not just firsttime skiers: Come up Saturday for a free rental, a free lesson and a free ticket on the Magic Carpet. The ski area south of Hansen will operate Saturday and perhaps Sunday before beginning its seven-day-a-week holiday hours Dec. 17, co-owner Suzette Miller said. Gary said he’s most excited about this season’s changes on the tubing hill — which won’t be open this weekend but might be the following weekend. The resort automated the loading and unloading to shorten the lines, speed up the lift and let tubers squeeze more runs into an hour. It also leveled an area at the top of the hill where tubers can prepare for their runs, and it added music. The resort widened its terrain park, cleared brush that was in
Magic Mountain Resort plans to open for the season Saturday, Dec. 10, then expand to all-week operation after Twin Falls schoolchildren are released for the Christmas holiday. The resort will be open: Dec. 10 (and possibly Dec. 11). Dec. 17-Jan. 1, seven days a
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO
Dana Knutson tubes down the mountain Feb. 15, 2016, at Magic Mountain Resort. the way and added about six terrain features. It hired Hayden Cowden to run its racing program this winter; he’ll teach racing and freestyle skiing to all ages. And it bought newer cross-country skis for the rental shop and will work with the High Desert Nordic Association to maintain some of the club’s cross-country trails.
week, except Christmas Day. The resort will close at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve. The tubing hill will be open every day the resort is. Thursdays-Sundays beginning Jan. 5. The tubing hill will be open only Saturdays and Sundays. Wednesdays Jan. 11, 18 and 25. Jan. 16 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Feb. 20 for Presidents Day. Hours: Ski lift and lodge open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tubing hill open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Day passes: Adult (18+): Full-day, $32. Half-
day, $26. Ages 7-17: Full-day, $23. Half-
day, $19. Seniors/military: $25. Half-day,
$19. 6 and younger ski free.
Season passes: Ages 19-65, $299. Ages 7-11, $109. Ages 12-18, $269. Ages 6 and younger, free. Family (two adults and two children), $775, plus $55 for each additional person. Seniors, $95. Military/ college, $139. Single lift rides for cross-country skiers: $5 for one, or $20 for five. Tubing hill: $15 for two-hour pass. $12 for ages 6 and younger. Lessons: One-hour, private, $45. Half-hour, private, $30. Group rates available. Rentals: Snowboards, $25. Downhill skis, $20. Cross-country skis or snowshoes, $10. Snow bikes, $25. Directions: 28 miles south of Hansen on Rock Creek Road. Information: Magicmountainresort.com, 208-736-7669, suzette@ magicmountainresort.com, or “Magic Mountain Ski Resort” on Facebook.
HAILEY — As the first major snowstorm of the season lashed Rotarun Ski Area near Hailey, Conrad and Bryce Foster skipped through the snow towing new blue tubes behind them. Their mission: be the first to test the small family ski area’s new tubing runs. Bryce launched first, jumping onto the tube only to sail about 10 feet before it came to an abrupt halt in the fresh snow. His older brother followed suit, getting only a little farther. “We need to pack it down a little,” said Craig Johnson, president-elect of the Rotarun Ski Area. “It’ll get faster and you’ll get further the more it’s used.” The new tubing hill will open with free tubing from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 17. Rotarun will kick off the season that day with the John Davies and Wesley DeKlotz Pancake Breakfast honoring the two longtime champions of Rotarun. Free tubing will also be offered from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 18, courtesy of 100 Men Who Care, a grassroots organization of men Please see TUBE, Page B6
If you go Rotarun Ski Area’s tubing hill will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. Unlimited tubing, including tube rentals, will cost $6 for children 10 and younger, $10 for ages 11-16 and $15 for ages 17 and older. Children need to stand at least 42 inches tall for safety reasons. Rotarun Ski area is at 25 Rodeo Drive, three miles west of Hailey. To get there from Hailey’s Main Street, turn west on Bullion Street and follow it across the Big Wood River as it turns into Croy Creek Road. Information: Rotarunskiarea.org
Pomerelle sets Friday as opener VIRGINIA HUTCHINS
vhutchins@magicvalley.com
ALBION — Pomerelle Moun tain Resort will open its season this weekend with 80 percent of its terrain. “It’s great. We are looking so well right now,” assistant manager Kali Burrows said Wednesday afternoon. “The only run that might not be open is Punchbowl, as far as I know right now.” The resort announced Wednesday it will open for the season Friday. It will operate for three days, Dec. 9-11, before beginning its seven-day-a-week operations Dec. 16. Pomerelle will remain open on holidays. By Wednesday afternoon, Burrows said, 12 inches of snow had accumulated at the base of the resort and 14 inches at the top, with more in places. Three inches had fallen in the past 24 hours and 8 inches in the past 72 hours. And another 1224 inches of snow were forecast for Thursday through Sunday. “We’ll be up to 90 percent skiable by the end of the weekend,” she said. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Dec. 27, when night skiing starts. Then the resort will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday-Monday. On Dec. 17, Pomerelle will offer first-timers 7 or older a free day of learning to ski or snowboard, spokeswoman Gretchen Anderson said. They’ll get free rental gear and a free lesson and use the Magic Carpet; preregister at 208-673-5599. For Pomerelle’s 2016-17 prices and details on recent changes at the resort, see the Times-News’ season preview published in November: http://bit.ly/2gDysxG
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OUTDOORS
| THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016
TIMES-NEWS
Moon’s elevation extremes strikingly similar to Earth’s
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o outside this week, preferably with binoculars or a telescope, and take a good look at the moon. Near the terminator (the dividing line between the lit and unlit parts of the moon), where the topography is easiest to see, mountains stand in sunlight, overlooking deep craters. How do the CHRIS ANDERSON extremes of lunar elevation compare with their terrestrial counterparts? On Earth, the maximum range of elevation spans 19,832 meters (65,066 feet), from the
zenith of Mount Everest to the nadir of the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep. While higher mountains and deeper trenches have undoubtedly existed in Earth’s geologic past, these extremes are limited by the strength of rock to resist collapse due to its own weight, and the fact that the taller and heavier a mountain is, the more the underlying crust sinks into the relatively deformable mantle below. The moon’s weaker gravity and smaller size (which allowed its interior to cool and stiffen more than Earth’s) should allow its mountains to be taller and its canyons deeper. Yet, the moon’s low-
Share your best outdoor photos On Magicvalley.com, our photo galleries showcase Idahoans’ outdoor adventures. And we’d love to see you contribute your shots. Contributing your photos is easy at Magicvalley.com/sub-
mit. Be sure to include some details about your shot, such as when and where you took the photo, and the name of anyone who’s pictured. On this page, we share a few of our readers’ recent submissions.
Above: Don Meyer photographed the ‘painted sunset’ Nov. 15 in the Hazelton area. Right: ‘I spent Black Friday making my way to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro,’ Chris Pruitt writes. COURTESY PHOTOS
Bird From B5
Telling the story, Young emphasizes the laughing gull was unconfirmed. Then he adds: “I’m positive that’s what it was.” Young had never seen or heard a winter wren, but he’d listened to recordings of its songs and calls. And on this chilly November morning near Auger Falls, he was practically certain. He recorded audio of the bird. He looked up all the call types of both wrens. Then he turned to the experts among his peers. Young’s Facebook post in the Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion group on the evening of Nov. 23 employed a becoming blend of confidence and humility: “I believe I may have a Winter Wren sighting from Twin Falls. … The big thing is the voice. You can hear it in the video and it’s very high, much higher than Pacific Wren … the bird in the video really is vocally alike to Winter Wren. I wanted to get opinions first though!”
‘Great find’
Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion is a public Facebook group, but it’s not the place for posting pretty photos, describing your birding adventures or asking bird-identification questions that a little research would answer. A “READ BEFORE POSTING” note from the group’s admin team politely but firmly directs that sort of thing to a sister Facebook group called Idaho Birding. Rather, Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion is for serious talk: notable sightings, species status and distribution, advanced identification issues. There, Young’s post got immedi-
ate attention. That evening, a handful of birders concurred with Young’s identification and congratulated him on the find — among them, the outreach and education director at Intermountain Bird Observatory, Heidi Ware. “Will go down tomorrow. Great find,” Twin Falls birder Pat Weber wrote. “Glad you came home for break!” Boise birder Stoddard Davenport offered to send a note to an Idaho birding message board and planned to start his Thanksgiving by making a Weber run for the wren. “I’ll probably head that way in the morning,” he posted, “and hopefully track it down before I ruin all the family holiday plans.” The last Magic Valley sighting to attract birders from around the state was the American golden plover that Weber observed in late October near Hazelton. Before that, three reports of scissor-tailed flycatchers brought in the birders and their binoculars: in June near Oakley, in October southwest of Twin Falls and a week later east of Declo. Now they’d head for Twin Falls again.
‘Little and brown’
Observations submitted to eBird. org chronicle the lonely winter wren’s human admirers on the Auger Falls road. Nov. 24: Weber. Davenport and his wife. Kathy Eklund, the Declo birder who made the third of this year’s scissor-tailed flycatcher observations. Nov. 26: Young again. Twin Falls birder Melody Asher, also of scis-
Sky calendar through Dec. 21 Planets: One hour after sunset: Mercury: WSW, extremely low Venus: SW, low Mars: SSW, mid-sky One hour before sunrise: est and highest points (Aitken Basin’s Antoniadi Crater, and an unnamed summit on the Basin’s upraised rim, respectively, both on the far side of the moon) are separated by
Jupiter: SE, mid-sky Moon: Occults (covers) Aldebaran (bright star) 10:56 p.m. 12/11 to 12:01 a.m. 12/12. Full moon 5:05 p.m. 12/13. Last quarter 6:56 p.m. 12/20. Other data: Peak of annual Geminid meteor shower night of 12/13-14 (bright moonlight interferes). Winter solstice (longest night of 2016) 3:44 a.m. 12/21. almost exactly the same elevation difference as their terrestrial counterparts: 19,846 meters (65,112 feet). The moon lacks more extreme topography because it
is geologically dead. Most of its landforms were established billions of years ago, during the last epoch of major bombardment. Since then, smaller impacts have steadily worn down the tallest peaks and filled in the deepest craters (with impact ejecta), while plate tectonics on Earth continue to push mountains higher and subduct oceanic trenches deeper. Next column: The biggest astronomical news of 2016. Chris Anderson manages the College of Southern Idaho’s Centennial Observatory in Twin Falls. He can be reached at 208-732-6663 or canderson@csi.edu.
Tube From B5
who pool $100 donations four times a year, voting on which nonprofit to give that money to. Irwin Excavation took its bulldozer to the northwest aspect of Art Richards Mountain this fall, leveling out the hillside there and creating two 600-foot-long tubing runs that run parallel to each other to allow youngsters and adults to race one another. The runs have some rollers to add to the adventure. There’s also a tubing area where small tykes can tackle 100-foot runs on tiny 32-inch Lil’ Glider tubes. They and the 45-inch nylon-coated vinyl Super Glider tubes for bigger tubers are supplied by Idaho Sewing for Sport in Grangeville, which specializes in pads for chairlifts and snowmaking guns. The tubes feature tow leashes with handling rings and rings to hold onto while tubing. And they boast three textured plates, with the harder plate allowing for faster tubing. “A lot of resorts across the country are building tubing areas — that’s one of the major revenue generators today. And some areas are strictly snow tube hills,” said Jesse Foster, Rotarun’s board president. “There are no skills needed. No equipment needed. Just show up and have fun!” Rotarun built the tubing area with the help of donations from organizations like the Hailey Rotary Club and this year’s ski swap, which raised $17,000. It’s just one of a myriad of improvements for the 65-year-old ski hill this year. Lighting has been extended farther up the mountain to allow Rotarun to expand its Skiing Under the Lights races and other events on Fridays and Saturdays. The new snow lights are white rather than yellow to match the frequency of the snow, Foster said. The white lights will take less power and provide more in-
sor-tailed flycatcher fame. Rexburg’s Darren Clark and birding buddy Steve Butterworth. Asher would have come a day earlier except that she already was heading for a rosebreasted grosbeak at the Hayspur Fish Hatchery near Picabo. Asher Clark, chairman of the art department at Brigham Young University-Idaho, was visiting Utah when he heard about Young’s wren and opted not to abandon the family Thanksgiving. But his patience paid off Nov. 26 with the first clear photos of the Auger Falls winter wren. “It has its own charm, but it’s certainly not a crowd-pleaser,” Clark said later by phone. “It’s little and brown and pretty drab.” The winter wren doesn’t require fantastic plumage to appeal to the serious Idaho birder, of course. Of all the birders with public eBird checklists, Clark has the biggest Idaho species list. “And I’ve seen most of the easyto-get birds in Idaho,” he said. The winter wren was his No. 377. No individual, Clark figures, could amass an Idaho list of 429 — the number of species ever documented in Idaho by eBird users. Some of those birds might never show up again in his lifetime. “It would be nice,” the 46-yearold said, “to get to 400 before I die.” Nov. 27: Young again. Weber again. Caldwell birder Cheryl Huizinga. And they kept coming.
KAREN BOSSICK, FOR THE TIMES-NEWS
Bryce Foster, left, and Craig Johnson test the new tubing hill at Rotarun Ski Area near Hailey. For this season it’s a walk-up hill, but Rotarun plans to add a cable lift later. tensity to light up the snow. Blaine County Recreation District will groom Rotarun twice a week, providing a more consistent surface than the mountain has had before. And the wooden benches in the lodge were swapped out for more comfortable chairs donated by Sun Valley Resort following its makeover of River Run Lodge. The ski area wants to install snowmaking next year. To raise money, the Rotarun board launched a crowdfunding platform called Ignite the Passion Sustainable Slopes Snowmaking Campaign this week, Rotarun treasurer Ben Frank said. Would-be donors can go to bit.ly/IgniteThePassion and choose from a variety of Passion Party Packs, Frank said. For instance, a $50 donation will offer donors a Party Pack for two that includes two adult or child ski hill and snow tubing day passes. A $100 donation will get the donor a Party Pack for four. And a $500 donation will get the donor a 20-person Party Pack that includes a barbecue lunch or dinner. Rotarun has averaged 3,000 skier visits per season. With
road Dec. 3 with a handful of fellow Prairie Falcon Audubon members. She used to track her sightings with X’s in a notebook. “I never knew the numbers until I did eBird.” Now the numbers are hard to ignore. The rose-breasted grosbeak was Asher’s 194th Idaho species this year. The winter wren, on Nov. 26, was 195. By the Audubon chapter’s Dec. 3 field trip, Asher was up to 196. “I am working really hard to get 200 this year,” she said, bundled up for the cold walk to the spot where a single winter wren was generating daily eBird alerts of rare-bird sightings. She’d seen the wren on two outings already and thought she heard it another time, but some of her companions were still hoping for their first glimpse. “Now if you guys see a golden-crowned kinglet, be sure I see it,” Asher told them. “Or a brown creeper.” As the birders with binoculars worked their way slowly along the Auger Falls road, a vehicle with Idaho Falls license plates stopped. The passenger lowered his window to ask about the winter wren and introduced himself as Jacob Briggs, birding with his dad, Blair Briggs. “You had the woodpecker picture!” Weber exclaimed before pointing the pair toward a pullout near the winter wren’s hangout. She didn’t have to say she meant Jacob’s May 2015 image of an acorn woodpecker in Swan Valley. The day before Dec. 3, on their way back from watching McKay’s buntings in Nome, Alaska, the Briggs father and son noted that birders were still reporting the winter wren in Twin Falls. So that’s where they headed next — with Jacob’s huge Anything for a bird “Lists aren’t the main thing. The camera lens and his young son. main thing is to go looking for birds,” The local birders and the Idaho said Asher, walking the Auger Falls Falls visitors were examining bushes
snowmaking, it could double or even triple that number, Foster estimates. “The target goal this year is $50,000, but what we really need is $150,000 to get everything completed. This campaign is a great way for people to donate little amounts and bigger amounts,” he said. “If we can raise the money, we can put in water line to the pond just as soon as snow melts in the spring, and locate a gravity-fed fire pump below the pond so it can provide a half-million gallons of water, even if the electricity was to fail.” Meanwhile, the tubing hill is a work in progress. Rotarun has a cable lift designed to move tubers up the mountain. But tubers will need to hike the tubes up the mountain themselves this year, as Rotarun board members spend this season determining just how far up the mountain the runs should go and how much runout is needed. “The recommendation was to start nice and easy. You can always go higher and faster,” Foster said. “The tubing is going to be so much fun for everyone. It reignites the kid in you!”
on the south side of the road when, suddenly, shotgun pellets rained out of the sky. Startled and appalled, two birders picked pellets out of the dirt at their feet. Two others pulled out phones to call dispatchers as shot after shot spattered around them. But nobody left. Every time they heard an explosion on the south canyon rim, they just turned around to shield their eyes and their optics. Blair, struck painfully on his balding head, put on a hat. “Well, that’s too bad,” Weber said, briefly able to focus her binoculars on the bushes again. Jacob saw a bird hop up from a drink at the river and fly across the road toward the shrubs. Definitely a wren. But unable to see identifying features in flight, he couldn’t be positive it was the winter wren. “I don’t know if he’s going to come out with all that going on,” Jacob said sadly. The repeated gunfire, the birders learned later from a sheriff’s deputy who investigated, came from a group shooting clay pigeons on private property out of sight on the canyon rim. The deputy told them to stop shooting into the canyon, and the pellet rain finally stopped. But the moment was over. Weber heard enough to include the winter wren in her Dec. 3 eBird list, with a note: “Continuing bird. Very vocal but glimpses were sparse.” Jacob, however, didn’t plan to count the wren. “We heard it calling, so we know it was there,” he said later, “but we never really had a good look at it.” Birders have their own criteria on the question. But if it’s a species that humans can usually see, Jacob wants to see it. Maybe another year will bring a winter wren to Idaho.
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