[Birdtalk] Trip report, 21-22 July 2007

[Mark Stackhouse]

I returned from a couple of weeks in Mexico on Friday, and spent the 
last couple of days birding with a British birder (who's working in 
Connecticut) on a whirlwind, target-species oriented tour of northern 
Utah. Love those British birders -  food? whatever, so as not interfere 
with birding; sleep? not if there's birds to see; enough already, let's 
go birding! My style of birding.

We started Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. (he arrived in SLC at 1 a.m.) 
with a trip to the Uintas, visiting Bald Mountain, Moosehorn Lake 
Campground, and Mirror Lake, fairly quickly getting all of our target 
species for that area - American Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, 
Clark's Nutcracker, Black Rosy-Finch, Pine Grosbeak, Cassin's Finch, 
and Pine Siskin. In the afternoon we went to Deseret Ranch, adding all 
three "sage" species, as well as others of that habitat, and Clark's 
Grebe, along with a great variety of waterfowl and shorebirds. The 
Northern Pygmy-Owl that had become bored with me after our torrid 
relationship in May and June was willing to "whistle and make-up" after 
my nearly three-week absence and gave us a good show. We finished the 
day with a very cooperative Flammulated Owl and a rather oddly-located 
Long-eared Owl on a signpost out in the grassland far from any trees. 
The next morning we went back to the ranch, spending the entire morning 
in the high country. We saw the first confirmed breeding of Lewis's 
Woodpecker on the ranch, with an adult feeding two dependent 
fledglings, along with lots of Dusky Grouse, amazingly more 
Williamson's Sapsuckers than Red-naped, and various flycatchers, etc. 
In the afternoon we went over Monte Cristo, stopped briefly at the 
North Arm Nature Area, and headed to northwest Utah to the North 
Promontory Mountains and White's Valley before heading back to the Salt 
Lake Airport and his late flight back to Connecticut. I'd hate to see 
what he was like at work today!

Was found a total of 151 species of birds in the two days, not too bad 
for a "targeted" trip. We also saw 16 species of mammals. We saw all 
the breeding woodpeckers of northern Utah (7 species), three grouse 
species, six owls, six jays/crows, and 14 sparrows. A very happy and 
tired British birder went back to his temporary home in Connecticut 
with a very favorable impression of the quality of birding in Utah and 
the beauty of our state. He added 27 species to his life list, another 
9 to his U.S. list, and saw 11 "lifer" mammals.

Some notes about northwest Utah - the raptor show in the valley along 
the Idaho border west of Snowville is getting going - not too many 
Swainson's yet, but lots of Ferruginous. It should be great viewing in 
a couple of weeks; if you haven't been to see it, it's quite a show in 
late summer as they cut the hay. We also saw two broad-daylight coyotes 
there. Fires have destroyed most of the pinyon-juniper habitat in the 
North Promontory Mountains, with only a few small pockets remaining - 
good enough for Juniper Titmouse, but probably no good for Pinyon Jay. 
White's Valley is very dry (like everywhere), and the Sharp-tailed 
Grouse and Gray Partridge were not in evidence during the very short 
time we were there, but we did have a nice Short-eared Owl to end our 
trip.

Our bird and mammal list with some annotations is below.

Good birding!

Mark Stackhouse
mark at westwings.com
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)

Birds:
*=target species found

Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
* Greater Sage-Grouse - Deseret Ranch, lots
* Dusky Grouse  - Deseret Ranch, about 15
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
* Clark's Grebe  - Deseret Ranch
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret  - Deseret Ranch, one
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk  - Deseret Ranch, lots west of Snowville
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
* Prairie Falcon - near Golden Spike monument
Sora
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet 
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper  - Deseret Ranch, one
Least Sandpiper  - Deseret Ranch, two
Baird's Sandpiper  - Deseret Ranch, two
Wilson's  Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern  - Deseret Ranch
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
* Flammulated Owl   - Deseret Ranch
Great Horned Owl
* Northern Pygmy-Owl   - Deseret Ranch
Burrowing Owl 
Long-eared Owl   - Deseret Ranch
Short-eared Owl - White's Valley
Common Nighthawk
White-throated Swift
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
* Lewis's Woodpecker   - Deseret Ranch, 4 total in two locations, first 
confirmed nesting on the ranch
* Williamson's Sapsucker   - Deseret Ranch, about 6-7 in three locations
* Red-naped Sapsucker  - Deseret Ranch, a family of 4-5
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
* American Three-toed Woodpecker - along the highline trail below the 
campground at Mirror Lake, family of 4
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee 
* Hammond's Flycatcher   - Deseret Ranch
* Gray Flycatcher   - Deseret Ranch
* Dusky Flycatcher   - Deseret Ranch
Ash-throated Flycatcher - North Promontory Mountains
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Warbling Vireo
* Gray Jay - Moosehorn Lake Campground
Steller's Jay 
Western Scrub-Jay
* Clark's Nutcracker - Mirror Lake Campground, Deseret Ranch
* Black-billed Magpie - all over, of course
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Purple Martin  - Deseret Ranch, lots
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
* Juniper Titmouse  - North Promontory Mountains
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Rock Wren 
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire 
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
* Sage Thrasher   - Deseret Ranch
European Starling
American Pipit - Bald Mountain
Cedar Waxwing  - Deseret Ranch, North Arm nature area
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
* MacGillivray's Warbler   - Deseret Ranch
Yellow-breasted Chat 
Western Tanager
* Green-tailed Towhee  - Deseret Ranch, Bald Mountain
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
* Brewer's Sparrow  - Deseret Ranch
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow   - North Promontory Mountains
Black-throated Sparrow   - North Promontory Mountains
* Sage Sparrow  - Deseret Ranch
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow - Mirror Lake Trailhead
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
* Lazuli Bunting - North Arm nature area
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole 
* Black Rosy-Finch - Bald Mountain
* Pine Grosbeak - Mirror Lake, elsewhere in the Uintas
* Cassin's Finch  - Uintas, Deseret Ranch
House Finch
Red Crossbill 
* Pine Siskin - Uintas,  Deseret Ranch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Mammals seen:

Long-tailed Weasel  - Deseret Ranch
Badger  - Deseret Ranch
Coyote - west of Snowville
White-tailed Jackrabbit  - Deseret Ranch
Black-tailed Jackrabbit - White's Valley
Mountain Cottontail  - Deseret Ranch
White-tailed Prairie Dog  - Deseret Ranch
Yellow-bellied Marmot - Bald Mountain,  Deseret Ranch
Uinta Ground Squirrel  - Deseret Ranch
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel  - Deseret Ranch
Least Chipmunk - Uintas,  Deseret Ranch, elsewhere
Red Squirrel - Uintas, Deseret Ranch
Pronghorn  - Deseret Ranch, elsewhere
Mule Deer  - Deseret Ranch, elsewhere
Elk  - Deseret Ranch
Moose  - Deseret Ranch