[Birdtalk] Snowbasin Birds

[Kristin Purdy]

Yesterday I birded in Weber County along New Snowbasin Road about two-tenths of a mile on each side of mile marker 1. It was pretty easy birding because I rarely left the pavement. The elevation at that spot is 6600 feet. The birds, seen or heard:

Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-pewee
Dusky Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Steller's Jay
Tree Swallow
Violdet-green Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mountain Bluebird
Hermit Thrush 
American Robin
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Western Tanager
Green-tailed Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Pine Siskin

Most watchable birds included a Dusky Flycatcher who obviously owned a small dead fir tree just before mile marker 1 on the right side of the road proceeding to the resort. The bird spent long periods singing the "Chip. Bweep. Pweet?" jingle and returned to the tree after short absences. Frequently he flew into the top of another nearby fir and I wouldn't be surprised if his nest were there. 

Another highly watchable one was the Olive-sided Flycatcher apparently on territory, also on the right side of the road just after the mile marker 1 curve and in a boggy area with many dead aspens and bordered by a few isolated firs. This spot has produced the Olive-sided in previous years. Not only was yesterday's OSFL obvious due to his "Quick, Three Beers!" call, but he sometimes perched 50-100 feet from the road, sometimes sat quietly and sometimes sallied out for a big insect.

Both flycatchers were supreme study opportunities right down to their rictal bristles.

I watched both birds and others in the company of birder Gary Edwards of Seneca, Pennsylvania, who happened to be birding the road also and enjoyed his life-bird looks and listens to the Dusky. Gary also picked up a few more species in his quest to see 100 birds in each state--the Western Wood-pewee, the Violet-green Swallow, and the Orange-crowned Warbler. The MacGillivray's would have been another, but we didn't get a look at the two that were counter-singing just off the road. 

The mile marker 1 area has been good in the past weeks and years and has produced such notables as:
Ruffed Grouse
Blue Grouse
Osprey
Flammulated Owl
Great Horned Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Common Poorwill
Hairy Woodpecker
Lazuli Bunting
Cassin's Finch
Bullwinkle

Too bad I didn't see those on yesterday's trip, too. 

Kris
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