[Birdnet] Black-throated Blue Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk, etc

[Tim Avery]

This weekend (10/24-10/26), Sam and I headed down to Washington County to
catch a bit of warm weather and to see a few birds.  We didn't end up
leaving till late, so we arrived after dark.  However, in the afternoon (on
Friday) while I was taking a lunch break, I came across 4 EVENING GROSBEAK
at the corner of 7000 South and 2700 East.  The birds were flying around and
perched in the top of a leafless maple.  In any event, we made it onto the
Beaver Dam Slope after midnight to a moonless, star-filled sky.  It had to
have been one of the clearest coolest skies I have seen, even, the ghostly
light of the milky way was obvious. Anyways, here are pix if you want to
skip the novel:



http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=548&page=1&sort=ta



Saturday (10/25) morning we headed to Lytle Ranch which had plenty of
White-crowned Sparrows, a number of Robins, and plenty of Yellow-rumped
Warbler.  Most of the activity was around the housing area, while the
orchard, ponds and creek were void of birds.  Other notables included nearly
a dozen Red-naped Sapsuckers all in the housing area, and surprise
BLACK-CAPPED and MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, as well as a flock of 20 Pine Siskin.  A
BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER was heard calling several times form one of the
draws off the wash.  Several American Pipit had arrived as well.  If you
haven't been in a while the wash has had several flash floods, and the
landscape is a little different.  Also, the renegade Beaver has taken care
of a lot of trees in the area.



After leaving Lytle, we headed to Ivins Reservoir which was covered in
1,000's of American Coots and a smattering of waterfowl.  A lone cormorant
was seen in the distance but not ID'd.  Next we headed up to Kolob Terrace
hoping for condors.  No condors, but a few Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk.
The best bird by far was a BE-autiful pacific MERLIN that buzzed us on the
north side of Kolob Reservoir.  It had to be the coolest looking Merlin I
have seen, jet black on top and smudged black streaks covering the
underside.  Back on the road to Kolob Crossing from the reservoir we found 4
LEWIS'S WOODPECKER, and although I didn't see it at the time, I found an
ACORN WOODPECKER in one of my photos (ha ha).    Downy and Hairy were also
present in the same area.



http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=548&page=1&sort=ta



We headed back to the west towards the slope we had a fairly late SWAINSON'S
HAWK just west of Santa Clara near Kayenta.  The day ended on the Beaver Dam
Slope with a descent sunset… and no birds.



Sunday (10/26) started with a drive across the slope to Lytle Ranch.  As I
was trying to show Sam several Verdin which were calling the cottonwoods in
the parking area I caught some movement out the corner of my eye and spotted
a BARN OWL which was sitting on the ground beneath the water drip in the
parking lot.  It flew and landed in a Pomegranete Bush where I snapped a
shot before it flew off into the jungle of trees in the camping area.  Sam
was excited to see one of the owls from Harry Potter.  A CRISSAL THRASHER
was calling loudly from the camping area as well, the only heard or seen all
trip.  We headed through the trees on the west side of the housing area
towards the orchard, when I heard a loud sharp chip note that seemed odd.  We
stopped and I pished only to have the bird making the noise take off from a
small shrub in front of us, and give a crazy series of chips, whistles and
zeets as it fluttered to the ground showing a mostly a lot of black in the
tail, back and wings, and large white patches in each wing and on the tail.
I thought it looked like a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, and when I finally
pished it out my suspicions were confirmed as the blue, black and white bird
fluttered up on the side of a tree then up the hillside towards the house
giving what I am assuming was the crazy alarm call I had never heard before.
I spent about a half hour trying to track it back down but was unsuccessful
in my attempt to relocate the bird. Ugh.



We finally headed into the orchard, only to get about halfway through, when
about 10 feet off the ground right in front of us a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK flew
right past us and up above the orchard.  I was able to get my camera on the
bird and snap a few shots as it circled and disappeared to the south over
the cottonwoods.  The orchard was otherwise dead and we headed back into the
housing area, where we came across many of the Red-naped Sapsuckers from the
previous day, and one really cool looking apparent hybrid RED-BREASTED x
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER.



http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=548&page=1&sort=ta



We left Lytle, with a few nice birds, but I was surprised to not see a
single Phainopepla, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, or Cactus Wren (the latter on the
slope) all weekend.  We made a quick stop in St. George at Tonaquint Park
where a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers were feeding around the pond.  Several
ABERT'S TOWHEE were calling from the brush, and a lone Kingfisher was
feeding out over the pond.



We made our way to Springs Estate Pond on the edge of Seegmiller Marsh,
where there were a ton of coots, and a nice smattering of ducks including
CANVASBACK, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, and Lesser Scaup.  Heading
through Washington Fields the surprise was a huge flock of doves flying near
the corn maze.  At first I thought it was all Rock Pigeons from a distance,
but as we drove by the swirling flock, I was shocked to see that it was
ENTIRELY comprised of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES.  I kid you not this flock was
easily 350-400 birds if not more.



We stopped briefly a Quail Creek with nothing of note, before heading north.
We stopped at Yuba Reservoir, which was extremely low, but had probably
1,200 Western/Clark's type Grebes out on the water.  About 10 COMMON LOON
were also present.  And a surprise BALD EAGLE was sitting on north beach
which is about a ½ mile from where the beach normally is. The whole area
around the lake is rather sad looking, with the majority of the sage covered
hillsides being dead or almost dead.  I have never seen so much dead sage
brush.  That's a ton of habitat that won't get any use in the near future
from sage dwelling birds.



http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=548&page=1&sort=ta



Our final stop was at the remaining puddle that is Chicken Creek Reservoir.
It was absent of waterfowl, likely due to the trespassing duck hunters near
the outlet.  There were several California and a handful of Ring-billed
Gulls present though.  As I was watching the gulls and scanning the far
shore, well up the lake from the hunters a guy in a tractor pulled up and
stopped right in front of me.  He didn't get out, he just looked at me, and
then shook his head angrily before driving off.  I honked my horn and he
looked back while I shrugged and put my arms out wondering what his deal
was.  He kept going while I was confused at what was up.  That was until he
stopped where the hunters were and started yelling at them.  I believe he
might have been the landowner and was giving th yahoos on the water a piece
of his mind.  I figured he thought I was looking to hunt, although I thought
the flip-flops and shorts would be a good sign I wasn't planning on hopping
in the water to shoot anything.  Weird.



It was a great weekend to be in southern Utah, and we saw some great birds.
I was excited to add a new Utah bird to my list, and several new birds to my
Washington County list, not to mention a few for Lytle as well ;)



And if you missed one of the links above, here are where the photos are:



http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=548&page=1&sort=ta



Good Birding



Tim
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdnet/attachments/20081027/32395d1f/attachment-0001.htm