[Birdtalk] Washington County 101...

[Tim Avery]

Eyes red… Skin burnt… and a car full of dust… It must have a been a good 
weekend of birding in southern Utah! Thursday evening Dave Slager and I 
headed south for some early spring birding. We got into St. George 
around 9pm so decided to try owling below Gunlock. We were skunked just 
as Colby and I were last month. Friday morning the first bird was a 
Great Horned Owl hooting away on the Beaver Dam Slope, a great way to 
star the day if I say so myself. We drove to Lytle Ranch, checking every 
Flicker on the way for any signs of yellow… none to be seen. At Lytle 
the birds were active, but spread thin. The bluebirds for the most part 
had departed, and the juncos were now feeding in the tree tops as 
opposed to the ground.

As Larry Tripp mentioned last week, migrants are on the move. We saw 1 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow above the pond, a Chipping Sparrow near 
the monument, and several Lincoln's Sparrows on the creek. Where the 
river washes the road out about a 1/4 mile past the monument we flushed 
a flock of Mallards that was packing some exciting stowaways. 4 Male 
Green-winged Teal were accompanied by a hen WOOD DUCK and an adult 
female BLUE-WINGED TEAL! We also scared up 5 Wilson's Snipe along the 
creek here. Feeling like exploring we hiked up river finding the best 
bird of the day, a 1st winter HARRIS'S SPARROW.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/hasp_02.jpg

This was a little over 2 miles from the ranch, but it very well could be 
the same bird that was hanging around the ranch house. Along with all 
the regular suspects was also a Western Meadowlark "chupping" in the 
orchard.

We headed to Welcome Springs in the afternoon where we found a pair of 
Canyon Wren's, in a "cave", apparently getting ready for spring.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/cawr_01.jpg

A trip up to Gunlock yielded flock of about 55 Ring-billed Gull and 1 
young California Gull. 9 Species of Waterfowl including at least 3 
Greater Scaup were present as well.

We did some exploring (not real birdy) and then headed back towards 
Lytle to camp. In the trees just south of where the creek crosses the 
road we had at least 4 Western Screech-Owls come into a tape.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/wsow_01.jpg

During the night one bird could be heard off an on tooting away. He was 
only quieted by a great Horned Owl and a chirping Cooper's Hawk that we 
presumed was on a nest.

Saturday we decided to wander further up the wash. We were very excited 
at some of the habitat up river. Huge stands of cottonwood, some 6 feet 
across and some great understory in places are probably great in the 
late spring.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/bdcreek_01.jpg

The highlights of the hike were 2 Tree Swallow heading up river, and 
never looking back; and Dave tracked down the first Lucy's Warbler of 
the spring. We heard the bird singing on several occasions, but never 
got eyes on it. Dave was persistent and finally found the bird, while I 
chased a sparrow, that ended up being a Lincoln's. Also of note were the 
bountiful pairs of raptors along the river. Although no Black-Hawk yet, 
there were at least 3 pairs of Cooper's Hawk and 3 pairs of Kestrel's 
already setting up territory.

We hit St. George in the afternoon and stopped at all the golf courses 
and ponds looking for waterbirds. It seemed as if Hooded Merganser's 
were everywhere, with a whopping 20 at Stratton (Grandpa's Fishing) Pond.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/home_01.jpg

The afternoon was full of highlights, despite the wind. In Washington 
Fields we pulled up under some cottonwoods to look for Doves and were 
shocked to see a beautiful prairie MERLIN perched right above us. We got 
great looks and some nice pictures.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/merl_01.jpg

At the Zion's Gate RV resort we missed Inca Dove but saw out first 
Turkey Vulture of the year. We drove to Sand Hollow where the wind was 
gusting to 40 mph and it was almost impossible to see anything out on 
the water. We did manage to find 1 Horned and 1 Eared Grebe.

We made our way to Quail Creek, where Dave immediately picked up on 5 
CASPIAN TERN sitting on a sandbar with 8 American Avocet and a number of 
Gulls.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/cate_01.jpg

Is there an earlier arrival date for this species in Utah?

Heading back to the Beaver Dam Slope for the night Dave spotted a 
Roadrunner in a suburb in a neighborhood in Santa Clara. I needed a 
picture for the year, but my camera jammed up and the bird ran into 
someone's backyard. We decided not to chase it, and rightly so as the 
home owner arrived just a couple minutes later. We moved on to avoid a 
talk with the local sheriff for our sneaky appearance.

The last bird of the day was almost road kill. Heading down a road on 
the slope to our camp, I had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting a 
BURROWING OWL. Worried that I may have hit it, we stopped and went back 
with the spotlight. Luckily it appeared the bird made it away scratch free.

For those still reading, bear with me I am almost done. This morning we 
started at Red Cliffs GC where the ducks were thinned out. The juvenile 
Night-Heron is still creeping around and the Black Phoebe is still 
hanging out at water's edge. At Tonaquit Park we saw only 6 Abert's 
Towhee, and only Mallards and Coots remained on the pond. Southgate GC 
had a pretty big turnover from Saturday, with a Snow Goose hanging out 
as well as 7 Great-tailed Grackles, with some males displaying.

We stopped at Zion's Gate and this time got great looks at 3 INCA DOVE 
in a tree and could hear another cooing at another camp site. The SR-9 
Sewer ponds were covered with the regulars, as well as 7 Great Blue 
Heron on the top pond.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/indo_01.jpg

We headed to Sand Hollow for one more check of the lake hoping for 
loons. No loons, but with much calmer waters we were able to scope and 
see a ton of birds. I was stunned as I scanned along the west dam when I 
saw the 2 BLACK SCOTER's about 400 yards away that Rick Fridell reported 
almost 2 weeks ago. One bird sported a nice yellow knob while the other 
was either a young bird or a female bird. We attempted to get closer to 
the birds for pictures so we walked down the dam. Unfortunately a boat 
flew by and sent everything into the air. We were not able to relocate 
the birds so I was stuck with terrible digiscoped shots…

We made a couple more stops before heading back north, and deciding to 
swing out to Clear Lake and take a look around. All the water was 
completely ice free and the ducks were scattered about. On the main road 
with the pond to the north there were hundreds of American Wigeon. We 
spent over an hour scanning here and several other ponds with no luck 
finding the Eurasian reported last week. We did however see 1 Greater 
Yellowlegs and a flock of around 15 American Avocet. And the stunner was 
a Swan curled up on the far bank of the main pond north of the road. The 
bird sported a neck collar leading us to believe it was a Trumpeter. 
Dave got a look at it with its head up but I never saw it with its head 
out. The band was black with yellow letters/numbers. I couldn't read 
them but a digiscoped shot Dave took may let us know what it read. I 
believe it may have read U273 or something to that effect.

And lastly a stop at Gunnison Bend left us wondering, "Where were the 
geese?" We checked the fields north of town as well but there was 
nothing… Apparently the whole flock was in Corrine some 200 miles away 
as per Kris Purdy's report!

It was a great weekend with over 110 species tallied including 101 in 
Washington County. Dave cleaned up on new birds for Utah and I added 13 
for the year!

And one more picture just for fun!

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/marc07/jtree_01.jpg

Good Birding

Tim
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com