[Birdnet] HOTLINE: Cache County Cackling Goose, Merlin, etc.

[Nancy Williams]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ryan O'Donnell <ryan at biology.usu.edu>
Date: Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Subject: Cache County Cackling Goose, Merlin, etc.
To: topofutah at utahbirds.org, nancy.moonbeam at gmail.com, birdtalk at utahbirds.org


I birded around several locations in Cache County today.  The best
sighting of the day was on my way out the door at home, when I heard a
Common Raven calling and then looked up to see it harrassing a
Red-tailed Hawk.  Common Ravens are indeed common in Cache Valley, but
I've only heard them once from my house in the year and a half I've
lived here, and this is the first time I've seen one from there.  (In
contrast, American Crows are pretty much daily.)  Here's a composite
photo:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/compsmall.jpg
I went to the 20-20 Ponds in search of the Greater Scaup and American
Tree Sparrows reported by Jason Pietrzak.  I couldn't pass up the chance
to practice scaup identification with side-by-side comparisons, and I've
been wanting to get good shots of Tree Sparrows for a while now.
Unfortunately, I found neither the Greater Scaup nor the Tree Sparrows,
only 30 or so Lesser Scaup and about 20 White-crowned Sparrows.  Most of
the White-crowned Sparrows were juveniles:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WCSPsmall.jpg
I've seen many fewer Merlins this winter than in the last two years.
Today I saw my first of the year, and only my second this season, in the
town of Newton.
Manure has been spread on many fields in the valley, which can be a good
place to look for birds.  I couldn't find any special visitors among the
Horned Larks today:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/HOLAsmall.jpg
There was a flock of about 500 Canada Geese feeding along Sam Fellow
Road where the White-fronted Goose was seen last year.  I found one
Cackling Goose among these Canadas, shown here at the lower right:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/CACGsmall.jpg

Good birding,
Ryan

Ryan P. O'Donnell
Department of Biology and the Ecology Center
Utah State University
5305 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-5305

http://200birds.blogspot.com




-- 
Nancy Williams, assistant professor
Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu