[Birdtalk] Misc. Sightings-SL County

[mjw22 at comcast.net]

Add another vote to Tim's call for more posts. I have often found myself wishing for more posts on these lists but have done little about this.  I hope to change that a bit with the summer months ahead.
  
My subject promised sightings and, while not spectacular, they were fun nonetheless.

On Saturday afternoon, at Moss Ledge Picnic Area in Big Cottonwood Canyon, I located an AMERICAN DIPPER nest tucked under a short waterfall.  It was essentially invisible (even when I knew where it was) and its presence was only betrayed by the diligent parent whose visits made the nestlings noisy.  I had noticed the adult making its sorties a few times during lunch but could never be sure that the gray blur wasn't a ROBIN. Finding this nest was far more rewarding than the ones under the bridges along the Provo River trail.  I told my wife and she remarked "You mean you found one where they're supposed to be."  There's certainly something mystical about any creature that makes its home behind a waterfall.  Oddly enough, my life sighting of a dipper and it's nest location was under similar circumstances (up a small, steep, side canyon, under a short fall) in the San Bernardino Mts. in Southern California in 2003.  MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES and AMERICAN ROBINS were the only other birds pre
sent that I was able to ID with my binoculars sitting at home (and my ears a little rusty).

Last weekend, actually on Memorial Day, my wife spotted a WILSON'S WARBLER in the trees outside our townhouse in Midvale.  More time outside yielded a WARBLING VIREO (singing both normal and "whisper" (squeaky) song, a DOWNY WOODPECKER and another nice look at the male WILSON'S.  Also a non-specific HUMMINGBIRD was seen (and has been heard lately).

Good Birding,
Matt Williams
Midvale, UT