[Birdnet] Winter Wrens and Lewis's Woodpeckers

[kristinpurdy at comcast.net]

Members of Wasatch Audubon saw two WINTER WRENS along the Steward/Birdsong Trail in Ogden, Weber County today during the Wednesday morning birdwalk. The birds responded to pishing. Follow the Birdsong Trail signs through the lower willow and cottonwood area until the woods close in and a juniper tree hangs over the trail. That's where we saw the wrens. 

Also along the Birdsong or nearby Rainbow Trail were California Quail, a Red-tailed hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flickers, Western Scrub-Jays, Black-billed Magpies, American Crows, Black-capped Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrushes, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Spotted Towhees, White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos (including one Slate-colored appearing to hail from the Canadian Rocky Mountains as described by Sibley), and House Finches.  

For more information on the Birdsong and Rainbow Trails, see the link below:

http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/weber/locations.htm#RainbowSteward

After the walk I continued to Liberty in Ogden Valley to check last winter's Lewis's Woodpecker location. Eight or nine Lewis's were working hard to stuff cracks in power poles and dead cottonwoods. Three of the birds are in locations reported last year along the road to the Swanson Environmental Center. They're fairly easy to see: 1) On a dead cottonwood on the west side of the road just before 2720 E. Shaw Drive, 2) Near the mailbox with the moose on top labeled 'The Shaws 2634 E. Shaw Drive' (filling cracks in a power pole on the Shaws' side of the road and north of their driveway), and continuing north, 3) after passing over the creek, .3 to .4 miles later foraging from oak west of the road and storing the acorns east of the road.

I flagged these three locations with pink-lavendar surveyor's tape either on power poles or at a nearby tree.

Four or five woodpeckers were east of #3 and across a field. These birds are not easy to see and a scope is necessary. They're consistently foraging from an oak-covered slope, storing mast and chasing each other in the row of dead cottonwoods east of the field. A fine looking bull moose was there eating cattails, too. I thought he was one of those funky metal sculptures until its head started moving and I saw the alleged sculpture chewing bulrushes. 

The last bird was on a power pole just north of 6080 North Fork Drive. I drew quite close to see acorns stuck in cracks of the pole like tan peas in a brown pod. The bird dropped to the ground and returned with a grasshoper that had red and black underwings. The woodpecker promptly stuffed the grasshopper in the crack as well. 

To reach the area, from Pineview Dam take highway 158 north approximately 4 miles to the stop sign and main commercial intersection in Eden. Note your odometer and turn left (west) toward Wolf Mountain (the ski area formerly called Nordic Valley). Drive 3.0 miles to a "T" intersection. Turn left (west) on 4100N. and drive .3 miles. Turn right (north) on 3300E and drive 1.3 miles. This road will become 3200E. and then 3100E. across the distance, but you probably won't notice. Watch for two brown signs on the right at the 1.3 mile spot, one that points straight ahead toward North Fork Park and one that points left (west) toward the Environmental Center. Turn west toward the center. The Shaw's mailbox is .9 miles from the turn. 

To see the 6080 North Fork Drive woodpecker, instead of turning left at the brown signs, proceed north and turn left at the next street toward the North Fork Park sign. Now you're on North Fork Road; watch the house numbers on the right as you head north. 

Kris
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