[Birdnet] Northern Pygmy-owl, Harris's Sparrow

[kristinpurdy at comcast.net]

Members of Wasatch Audubon saw a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL in Box Elder Campground in Mantua, Box Elder County, this morning. The owl remained high in Box Elder trees and changed perches twice. Talk about nearly invisible! The second time the bird moved the new spot seemed obvious from the flight path; however, we couldn't locate the bird again. 

The owl was just east of the Group Use parking area and east of the bridge over Box Elder Creek. All views threatened to give us charlie horses because the owl perched in the upper canopies.

Other birds in the campground this morning included a Red-naped Sapsucker, Northern Flickers, Black-capped Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Townsend's Solitaire, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches and American Goldfinches.

We continued to Mantua Reservoir and several people saw a HARRIS'S SPARROW at the southeast corner chasing a Song Sparrow. To reach this area, take the dike road to the southeast and watch for the short spur road on the left that will take you to the water's edge. In addition to the Harris's and Song Sparrows, we also saw White-crowned, two Lincoln's and several of the birds mentioned above.

The reservoir remains American Coot and Western Grebe territory. We saw few species of waterfowl; only two Buffleheads, a Ruddy, and a Mallard. There appeared to be some bay ducks in the north end of the reservoir, but we were scoping from the south end and it was a long shot.

Most entertaining were the young grebes. How often do you see grebes fly? You can watch lots of flight behavior at Mantua right now. The fliers are likely the young birds learning how their wings work and strengthening them for the upcoming migration. They were really active.

The town of Mantua is located on US-89/91 a mile or two east of Brigham City. Box Elder Campground is on the west side of town and signs will direct you to it from both Mantua exits. The reservoir can be seen from just about anywhere in town.

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdnet/attachments/20061018/4290bca7/attachment.htm