[Birdtalk] Washington County... Where the birds are!

[Tim Avery]

Colby Neuman and I headed down to Washington County for the weekend to 
do a little birding and apparently bake in the 90+ temps.  The best 
weekend of birding of the year thus far as we tallied around 173 
species.  Many FOY birds, and the highlights are as follows,  and don;t 
worry no novel this week...  At least not in story form!

Friday 04/27

Swede Lane (Utah County)
  2 - Northern Mockingbird
  25 - Cattle Egret
  250 - White-faced Ibis
  Both species of Yellowlegs

River Lane (Utah County)
  1 - Bullock's Oriole (male chattering) - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/buor_01.jpg
  1 - Long-eared Owl - http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/leow_01.jpg
  1 - Barn Owl
  2 - Virginia's Warbler (as well as YRWA and OCWA)

Chicken Creek Reservoir (Juab County)
  4 - Semipalmated Sandpiper
  2 - Western Sandpiper
  1 - Marbled Godwit
  13 - Long-billed Dowitcher
  35 - Wilson's Phalarope (as well as KILL, AMAV, BNST)

Saturday 04/28

Lytle Ranch (Washington County)
  1 - Broad-winged Hawk (flushed the bird 3 times around the ranch house)
  1 - Clay-colored Sparrow (photographed near restrooms several hours 
after Larry Tripp found the bird, Colby missed the bird and threw my 
soda on the ground in retaliation)
    Picture taken on 4/28: 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/ccsp_01.jpg
    Picture taken on 4/29: 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/ccsp_02.jpg  (Same bird?)
  5 - Summer Tanager - http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/suta_01.jpg
  1 - Scott's Oriole and 1 Hooded Oriole
  1 - Empid (likely a Hammond's)
  25 - Black-necked Stilt (very odd) - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/bnst_05.jpg
  Lots of Warblers arriving, nothing of note...  We recorded 65 species 
at Lytle in 6 hours.

Utah Hill (Washington County)
  7 - Black-chinned Sparrow (a lifer for me!) - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/bcsp_01.jpg

We had a Peregrine flying just to the south of  Red Hills GC near Bluff 
Street.

Kolob Reservoir/Canyon and Lava Point (I guess Washington County)
  1 - Least Sandpiper - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/lesa_01.jpg
  2 - Long-billed Dowitcher
  Most of the water birds Rick reported (no  pelican), and we missed out 
on all the peckers as well as condors :(

Zion Canyon (Washington County)
  2 - Painted Redstart (near the Temple of Sinwava restrooms) - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/pare_01.jpg
  2 - Downy Woodpecker (building a nest near the visitor center; where 
has this species been recorded in the county)
  1 - Black-capped Chickadee (near the Temple of Sinwava restrooms; 
again a bit south of the range)
  1 - Common Merganser on the river

Sunday 04/29

Lytle Ranch (Washington County)
  1 - Clay-colored Sparrow (likely the same bird near the parking area; 
again Colby missed the bird... but may have got a glimpse before it flew 
off... no retaliation this time)
  1 - Calliope Hummingbird (almost landed on my hat)
  8 species of Warbler, no Broad-winged Hawk, but 1 Great Egret flew over.

Utah Hill (Washington County)
  2 - Chukar (Colby and I both had to do a double to take to make sure 
it wasn't a mirage)

We birded around the County a bit.  At Gunlock was a lone Bonaparte's 
Gull and 6 Snowy Egret.  Colby birded the riparian tract at the inlet 
and saw hundreds of birds including 8 species of Warbler and Hooded 
Oriole.  At Ivins Reservoir there appeared to be 2 Greater Scaup still 
hanging around.  At Tonaquit Park we saw the first Western Tanager of 
the season and heard a lone Abert's Towhee calling.  At Southgate Golf 
Course we sat under the pine trees watching numerous Yellow-rumps 
feeding in the grass.  Colby found a brilliant Townsend's Warbler in the 
trees!  At Seegmiller Marsh we saw our first Spotted Sandpiper of the 
year (then 2 more later in the day).  WE stopped by the wash where Rick 
Fridell reported the Pec's yesterday but they were gone and replaced 
with 3 Long-billed Dowitcher and 25 Willet.  Quail Creek also had 5 
Bonaparte's Gulls.

Townsend's Warbler - http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/towa_01.jpg
poor picture of a Common Poorwill - 
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/copo_01.jpg
Western Screech-Owl - http://timaverybirding.com/photos/april07/wsow_01.jpg

A great weekend and a lot of good birds seen.  Bring on May!

Good Birding

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