[Birdtalk] Salt Lake & Davis County Birds

[Tim Avery]

With such wonderful weather, it was a no brainer to get out and do a 
little birding today, despite the reports from the last few days that 
left me wondering if I would see anything at all. Dave Slager and I 
decided to start the day out in Rose Canyon, (southwest of Herriman in 
Salt Lake County) hoping to get Dave his lifer Juniper Titmouse. WE 
foudna good spot near the parking are at the top of the canyon, that 
wasn't posted as private, and hiked a short distance into the juniper. I 
started doing a pymgy-owl call and shortly after we got a response from 
a bird up the hill a little way. We moved to near where the sound was 
mae and I started doing the call again. Almost instantly we were mobbed, 
by Western Scrub-Jay, Balck-billed Magpie, and and unexpected STELLER'S 
JAY. Finally we heard the bird again and tracked it down. At this point 
another birds started calling behind use, and pretty soon at least 3 
birds were actively rattling away. Dave got great looks and we headed 
out for parts northward.

In Herriman we saw 5 Eurasian Collared-Dove, a new county bird for me.

Our next stop was Antelope Island, where the causeway was its usual dead 
self in February. However at the last bridge, there were 2 female 
LONG-TAILED DUCK hanging around in the large opening of water on the 
southside of the bridge. We spent some time watching and photographing 
the birds before heading on to the island.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/febr07/ltdu_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/febr07/ltdu_02.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/febr07/ltdu_03.jpg

At the Buffalo corrals was a horrible sight. We found a recently killed 
adult Barn Owl under the roost box. It is unclear as to what may have 
killed the bird, but some other animal/bird has been feeding on it. On 
my last trip to the corrals on January 1st there was an adult bird that 
appeared to maybe have a hurt wing, however it was able to fly so 
something else may have been wrong.

However the dead adult wasn't the worst finding. While searching around 
the corral we found 2 more dead Barn Owls, that looked to have been dead 
for some time. The birds were both juvenile birds, and one still had a 
lot of down on the body, despite the decomp, the other didn’t have much 
to go by but the talons and some orange feathering stood out.

Ironically a second nest box was put up on the west end of the barn, and 
I wonder if it is due to some problems with the current box…

We then headed towards Garr Ranch which was rather birdless. However, it 
appears a hint of spring is in the air as a pair of American Kestrel 
were copulating in the trees above the picnic area.

On the road back Dave spotted a shrike in a tree east of the road just 
south of Frairy Peak. We stopped and confirmed that the bird was a 
NORTHERN SHRIKE, one of the target species for the day.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/febr07/nosh_01.jpg

We swung by Farmington Bay which for a lack of better words, was simply 
disappointing… Very few swans, only 2 or 3 Eagles, and the Gulls were 
mostly too far out to look through. A brief moment of excitement came 
when I thought we might have a Mew Gull… It turned out to be a 
thin-billed Ringer…

At Lee Kay ponds the gull flock was reduced to several hundred birds, 
too far out to really get good looks at. There was a Prairie Falcon in 
the area, (new Utah bird for Dave), which provided an awesome photo op 
as it flew by!

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/febr07/prfa_01.jpg

Good Birding

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