[Birdnet] Ruddy Turnstone at AIC

[Kristin Purdy]

I saw a RUDDY TURNSTONE at about 3 pm today north of mile marker 6 of Antelope Island Causeway in Davis County. The bird was very distant at perhaps 300-400 yards. Several unmistakable field marks were still visible--the white crown, the deep rusty back/wings, the fat black horseshoe collar, the clean white underparts, and the slim profile. 

The bird was picking and poking in the mudflats in the vicinity of Black-bellied Plovers. After about 10 minutes of my observing, the plovers flushed and the turnstone flushed with them. Bummer. 

The stop at mm 6 was my second of the day. This morning the location produced hundreds of Black-bellied Plovers on both sides of the causeway, Snowy and Semi-palmated Plovers, Killdeer, American Avocets, Willets, Long-billed Curlews, Sanderlings, four DUNLINS, dowitchers, two Red-necked Phalaropes and lots of noisy Forster's Terns. The peeps were far enough away that I was too lazy to ID them and the dowitchers couldn't be separated to species. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it. 

Garr Ranch produced some decent birds including Western Kingbirds; Ruby-crowned Kinglets; Warbling Vireo; Hermit Thrush; Orange-crowned, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray and Wilson's Warblers; and Bullock's Oriole. The Great Horned Owl chick is big enough for mom not to roost with baby anymore and both parents were found in a Russian Olive near the spring.  

Other favorite sightings of the day:

- A cock Ring-necked Pheasant walking with two hens toward the sun at about 7:30 this morning. What a gorgeous bird that male was. His red face and iridescent rust breast plumage were lit by the long early morning sunrays as if he were on fire. Or maybe the hens made him that way.

- A Bonaparte's Gull still in 1st winter plumage on the north side of the 'No Swimming' bridge along with California Gulls. The Bonaparte's didn't even show the slightest hint of the black head yet--seems late. 

- A Belted Kingfisher--what?!? Never thought I'd see a Belted Kingfisher at Antelope, but a male was at the pond about a mile and a half north of Garr Ranch on the east side of the road.

- While I was watching a Burrowing Owl on a rock southeast of the Visitor Center, two Chukars on farther rocks began to call. I pulled out my Chukar caller and decided to have some fun. Pretty soon four Chukars were calling from points around me that defined a square. I walked to the edge of the road to get a closer look at one and just 20 feet in front of me, a Loggerhead Shrike dived onto a tiny vole and made off with it. I didn't even have the chance to get my binoculars up. 

My lesson learned between my morning and afternoon shorebird stops at mm 6 is how fast the situation can change. Many, many shorebirds were there this morning and the flocks flushed and coursed over the mudflats repeatedly. By this afternoon's stop, far fewer shorebirds were there and the peeps looked like they were all conserving their energy. 

Kris

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