[Birdnet] ABA - South Utah County Field Trips

[Dennis Shirley]

Hi All,
Thought I'd provide a recap of the ABA field trips I conducted this past week. We birded the following areas on tuesday, thursday, and saturday, totaling 96 species for the week - Burraston Ponds WMA, just south of Mona,Juab County, Goshen Canyon, North Goshen Fields, and the Tintic Mountains from Eureka to Dividend.
Highlights included:

Burraston Ponds WMA - Blue Grosbeak, Common Grackle

Goshen Canyon - Lots of western specialties - Black-headed Grosbeak       Lazuli Bunting, Yellow-breasted Chat, Lark Sparrow, Golden Eagle

North Goshen Fields - Boblink[5-6 males, 2 females] -  numbers continue to drop each year,  WHITE IBIS*** - Probably the rarest bird found during the conference. It was seen on the east side of the north Goshen fields gravel road across from the Bobolink colony in an irrigation flooded field on thursday. It was not seen on saturday, nor has it been seen by other birders since then. By saturday the fields in the immediate area were again dry and there were even only a few white-faced ibis in the area. I believe to find it again we need to search those areas where the fields are flooded and WFI are working. Of interest, a little bird told me a Utah County Birder thought he saw a White Ibis about three weeks ago west of Springville but was reluctent to spread the word because he wasn't sure.
So, it seems we have at least one around.

Tintic Mountains - At several spots - Virginia's and Black-throated Warbler, Gray and Dusky Flycatcher, Juniper Titmouse, Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee, Brewer's Sparrow

Most of the attendees were from the East or even foreign countries, so many got Life Birds that we often take for granted, like Black-billed Magpie. It was fun to share their excitement, but a little challenging to bird with 48-50 birders each day traveling in a full size Utah Trailways Bus. I'm sure the bus drivers had never taken their buses in such ares, and may never want to do it again. We sure got some strange looks by farmers and residents in these outback areas. But speaking for all those who did the ABA field trips, it was a great week. Steve Carr was the field trip coordinator, and he did a fantastic job, as he does in anything he's involved in. He didn't get to be in the field much, but he sure made everything run smoothly for the rest of us. We all owe him a vote of thanks for representing our states' birding population so well. No one knows how much behind the scene work is involved with something like this unless they've done it themselves.
 Thanks again Steve, and to all involved.

Go Bird,
Dennis Shirley