[Birdtalk] Yesterday at Deseret Ranch

[Mark Stackhouse]

Some of the folks on our trip to Deseret Ranch asked that I send in a 
report of what we found.

We all enjoyed a great day of birding, escaping the heat of the valley, 
and found a total of 127 species of birds, 124 seen and 3 heard only. 
Signs of the progress of the nesting season were everywhere, starting 
with a Ferruginous Hawk bring food to three large nestlings shortly 
after arriving on the ranch, and continuing with Long-billed Curlews 
"harrying" a Northern Harrier, a Greater Sage-Grouse mother with seven 
teenagers in tow, a very young Burrowing Owl coming out for a snack, 
and a newly-hatched American Avocet waiting for its siblings to emerge 
from their eggs. The Northern Pygmy-Owl that has been entertaining 
ranch visitors for the past few weeks came out for a brief show, but 
seems to be getting bored with the disembodied "voice of owl" (my 
whistle) that keeps reappearing in its territory. We had all seven Utah 
swallows, including Purple Martins in two locations, and a great show 
by both male and female Williamson's Sapsuckers. A Common Tern added to 
the real "common" species to produce a four-tern day (lacking a Least 
Tern for a clean sweep of the Utah terns). The oddest sightings were 
out-of-season shorebirds, including two Long-billed Dowitchers that 
continue to be present since at least two weeks ago, and a juvenile 
(already heading south?) plumaged Stilt Sandpiper. A singing Sage 
Sparrow finished our daylight birds, and the evening was quiet, with 
only a single Common Poorwill seen among the possible night birds.

Another day of birding on the ranch, another group of tired and happy 
birders.

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