[Birdtalk] Utah County Birders - Salt Lake Birders joint field trip to Mirror Lake

[Lu Giddings]

Several car-loads of birders left Provo at 6:30 a.m. We stopped along 
the way at the inlet end of Deer Creek reservoir, which is remarkably 
low, and saw a variety of birds including sandhill cranes and an osprey.

A group of roughly 35 birders left the Kamas Ranger station at 8 a.m. It 
was our intent to find several target species: black rosy-finches, 
American three-toed woodpeckers, pine grosbeaks, and gray jays.

We first stopped at Bald Mountain Trail Head to look for Rosy-finches 
and were disappointed, but pine grosbeaks, pine siskins, and a northern 
flicker were seen, amongst other things.

At Mirror Lake we divided into three groups of roughly ten birders each. 
One group circumnavigated the lake while two groups went into the 
campgrounds and a fourth, smaller group explored by car. Bird numbers 
were markedly lower than roughly a month ago, but a number of 
interesting birds were still seen. A few people had the good fortune to 
see an American three-toed woodpecker. Most - if not all - of the group 
saw gray jays and  Clark's nutcrakers.

We made a final stop at Trial Lake, making one final attempt to find 
American three-toed woodpeckers. We managed to find a hairy woodpecker 
and a mystery empid, and Steve Carr spotted two more gray jays in an 
empty campground.

The weather was warm, clear, and a bit breezy but mostly beautiful. It's 
hard to believe that snow will be on the ground in just a few weeks, but 
the birds know and are preparing themselves.

Many thanks to all of you, both Salt Lake birders and Utah county 
birders, for your support of this activity. A partial trip list may be 
found below. And a big thanks(!) to Craig Fosdick and Mark Stackhouse 
for supplying the information that helped make the trip a success.

Lu Giddings

Total Count: 26
Common Merganser
American White Pelican
Osprey   
American Coot  
Sandhill Crane 
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove  
White-throated Swift 
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Gray Jay 
Black-billed Magpie  
Common Raven   
Mountain Chickadee   
Red-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin 
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird 
Pine Grosbeak  
Pine Siskin
House Sparrow