[Birdnet] Sapsucker and Blackbird Pictures

[Tim Avery]

Thanks to Colby for posting my sightings from today, and thanks to everyone who called to tell me about the bluebird.  So, I headed down to St. George on Thursday hoping to finally tick off a Vermilion Flycatcher for the year.  Talk about a relief, when I finally laid eyes on a female bird in Bloomington on Thursday.  Cutting it a little close to the end of the year, but seen none-the-less.  I birded a little around St. George, before heading out to Lytle with about an hour of sun light left.  The ranch was pretty dead with strong winds whipping through the Beaver Dam Wash.  At first light Friday I was back at Lytle and walked up to the end of the property before hitting the creek and following it back down to the parking area.  It was awfully dead again, I managed to chase down and finally get some decent shots of a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher.  2 Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler were seen along the creek.  I birded the camping area, and flushed what looked to be a juvenile-type sapsucker from a cottonwood into the pines at the kiosk.  Right as I got to the trees a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER dropped out of the pines and into a tree a few feet away, followed immediately by the juvenile bird, and an adult female Red-naped Sapsucker.  The birds were quite jittery and didn't allow me to get to close.  The juvenile bird flew directly above me into a cottonwood and with the great light it looked like a good YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER.  Absolutely no red in the head yet, and still a very dirty bird, typical of juveniles of this species this time of year.  My guess would be since the bird was still showing a white throat that it may be a female.  Right about this time Larry Tripp was walking up the drive, and I pointed out where the Yellow-bellied was.  Before he could get a clear view it bolted into the picnic area.  Larry did get a good look at the Red-breasted however.  We spent another hour and found 5 or 6 Red-naped, but never relocated the other two birds.

 

I took off and headed towards St. George.  I birded Sand Hollow which had 3 TUNDRA SWAN on the south side. I made my way into Washington Fields from the loop around the state park and spent some time looking for the Lark Bunting Rick reported last month.  No bunting, but there were 2 "prairie" MERLIN harassing several flocks of pipits in the area.  As I worked my way east along the main east-west road I came into a huge flock of Red-winged Blackbird, with smaller numbers of Starlings, Cowbirds, and Brewer's Blackbirds.  A couple hundred feet from the corner where the east-west road T's the main north-south road there was a flock of 80-90 Brewer's Blackbirds in a corral made up of box crates.  Almost in the front was a female RUSTY BLACKBIRD which stuck out like a sore thumb in the bunch.

 

Here are pictures of the Sapsucker, the Blackbird and the Flycatcher: 

 

http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=491

 

To get to this area, take 700 West, south form SR-9 in Hurricane. Before the airport, take a left on 2060 South which curves to the south and becomes 1100 West.  Follow this south to 3000 South and turn right.  The bird was seen on the north side of the road a couple hundred feet to the west of 1100 West.



Good Birding

Tim
Salt Lake City, Utah
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
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