[Birdtalk] a LONG Saturday

[Tim Avery]

The day started at 2:30 am with an alarm, which I turned ignored and went back
to sleep with.  Thankfully Colby Neuman called me at 3:30 and we met up at
4:00am for the 3.5-4 hour drive to Leidy Peak in the high Uinta's.  We arrived
at the trail head around 8:00am and were on our way up the mountain at 8:15. 
Even before leaving the parking area, we had Gray Jay, many Red Crossbill, and
a host of smaller passerines.  When we hit the east slope, Colby thought he
heard a strange whistle, so we began to traverse the east slope in hopes of
flushing a bird.  By 9:30 we had made our way to the summit and were
Ptarmigan-less.  I did however have a PRAIRIE FALCON, which was rather
unexpected.  On top the weather started to look sketchy so we made our way down
the south slope.  Colby headed southeast and I southwest and pretty soon we
were 1/2 way back down the mountain.  I was working my way through a patch of
rock with a few draws of grass, when I slipped and fell flat on my rear, in the
process "terrifying" 2 Ptarmigan into flight.  I hustled to my feet and watched
the birds fly about 150 feet before dropping into a boulder field.  I made my
way to the the area and spent a short time looking for the birds, when it began
to pour.  Seeing a lightning strike to the west I decided no bird was worth a
lightning strike.  I headed to tree line, seeing a Red Fox and having a pair of
BLACK ROSY-FINCH fly over.  I met up with Colby on the east slope again and
broke the bad news.  He debated heading to the area, but we opted to head out
because it was a long shot, and a long walk back to the area.

By 11:15 we were back on the road, and headed out of the mountains.  Once near
Vernal I received a voicemail form Kris Purdy alerting me of the RUDDY
TURNSTONE she had found at Bear River NWR.  It wasn't much of a question where
we would be heading.  After the long drive back to Salt Lake and a quick swap
of vehicles we headed out to the refuge, arriving just after 6:00pm we found
the bird where Kris had reported it from.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/aug07/rutu_01.jpg

We also were fortunate to see a pair of bird that looked like 1st year Glossy
Ibis.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/aug07/glib_01.jpg

With the Turnstone out of the way, we took to scanning the dowitchers, which
were surprisingly closer than my previous trip out.  It became apparent that
the birds were in to many stages of moult to be sure about finding a
Short-billed Dowticher, although we had several candidates which definitely
raised an eyebrow.

Despite the frustration with the birds, when the wind picked up and it started
to to rain a bit, I was able to catch some neat pictures:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/aug07/dowitchers_01.jpg (in flight)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/aug07/dowitchers_02.jpg (in rain)

As the sunset we made our way around the tour loop, seeing 3 Mule Deer,
including 2 nice bucks.  Several skunks and Raccoons were also seen, as well as
10's of 1,000's of birds in Unit 2, which was quite a treat.  And finally home
at 10:30, its time to hit the sack.

Good Birding

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