[Birdtalk] Great Northern Utah Birding!

[Tim Avery]

What a day.  I guess I carried yesterday's good fortune away form Salt Lake and to northern Utah for a few more great birds.  The day started with Colby Neuman and I leaving SLC at 8 am and heading north through fog and slick roads.  A quick pit stop at the Flying J in Willard produced 6 GRAT-TAILED GRACKLE's hanging out looking for scraps.  We then headed up to Tremonton and over towards Howell on HWY 102 (exit 40 off of I-84 in Tremonton) and had several ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK's on power pole before we passed into Faust Valley.  

 

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/rlha_02.jpg 

 

We did a quick scan along Faust Valley Road for Gray Partridge but came up empty handed, however there was a soaring GOLDEN EAGLE.  

 

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/goea_01.jpg 

 

Making the turn onto HWY 83 north from Thiokol we came to the spot previously mentioned by Kris Purdy and could here HORNED LARK's in the field to the west.  We stopped to listen and almost immediately heard a rattling call that we knew had to be a Longspur.  After a minute of scanning I found a rather drab 1st winter LAPLAND LONGPSUR, and from there it only got better.  We started to hear more rattling, letting us know there were more we didn't see.  Then we had one land on the fence just 15 feet away, this one more heavily marked.  For the next hour we sat and watched as Longpsur's came and went, foraged on the road and in the pasture, and at one point each had more than 6 Longspur's in the scope field.  At another point Colby looked up and spotted 5 Longspur's on the fence, including an adult already molting into breeding plumage.  We had several birds that seemed to be at the extremes in light and dark tones for the birds, with no real constant in overall color in pattern.  We also had several individuals that raise dour eyebrows.  

 

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/lalo_06.jpg 

 

At one point I found a bird that looked very good for Smith's Longspur, but the bird was flushed before I could get Colby on it, and we were not able to relocate it.  We finally pulled a Snow Bunting out of the flock which we figured had to be mixed in with so many longspurs.  We estimated that there were around 22 Longspur's, but there easily could have been more with all the movement and enormous area the birds are using.  As for Snow Buntings, there are likely more around as well given what we saw.  There were around 400 Horned Larks and that about rounded up the birds in the Howell area.

 

We then headed to Brigham City and made a stop at Mayor's Pond where there were 9 species of waterfowl, including 5 GREATER SCAUP and 1 female CANVASBACK.

 

Another stop at Box Elder Campground produced some Junco's chipping in the brush and not much else.  We headed up to Hyrum and down to Paradise where we saw 11 SHARP-TAILED GROUSE in the Paradise Cemetery.  Back to Hyrum we heard several PINE SISKIN on 200 South near Center Street.



http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/stgr_01.jpg

 

After a late lunch in Logan we stopped at 1st Dam at the mouth of Logan Canyon where there were a number of BARROW's GOLDENEYE.  We drove up to Card Canyon (about 10 miles up Logan Canyon?) to snoop around and see if any mountain birds had dropped down to the lower elevations.  

 

Next it was back to Logan and the Logan River Golf Course where we had a flyover sub-adult BALD EAGLE and a pretty good looking CACKLING GOOSE just across the street from the Club House on Golf Course Drive.  We headed up to 200 North (HWY 30) and headed west across the valley.  Just north of the Landfill in the "pond" north of HWY 30 was a GREAT EGRET, a HERRING GULL, a BELTED KINGFISHER and a number of other ducks, gulls, starlings and Brewer's Blackbirds.

 

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/greg_01.jpg 

 

We drove to the Cache/Box Elder County line where we did a little exploration on the back roads, hoping to maybe scare up a Partridge or Sharp-tailed Grouse.  The birding was rather slow, with only a NORTHERN HARRIER and a RING-NECKED PHEASANT as highlights.

 

Our last stop of the day was at the Antelope Island Causeway before sunset to make a quick check of the ducks (nothing out of the ordinary) and to hopefully photograph some BARN OWL's in the great evening light.  There were two birds working their way west along the south side of the causeway that flew right by several times, providing great photos ops!

 

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/janu07/baow_12.jpg 

 

In all not a bad day of birding, okay in all reality a fantastic day of birding, with 54 species for the day.  



Good Birding



Tim

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

"I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine."
- John James Audubon
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20070121/20d060e0/attachment-0001.htm