[Birdtalk] Horned Lark associat

[Tim Gorman]

Thanks for the report Bryant, it is interesting. Gravel birds like Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and Lapland Longspurs love that part of Deseret Land and Livestock in the winter.

Note that a Vesper Sparrow was seen on the Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch during the Evanston WY/UT CBC on December 14. 

Snow buntings were found with a group of Horned Larks. Lapland Longspurs, found on many of the Evanston CBCs, were absent this year. We got 298 Greater Sage-Grouse on the ranch this time.

Tim Gorman


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bryant Olsen 
  To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org 
  Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:38 PM
  Subject: [Birdtalk] Horned Lark associat


        This report is in response to Tim's request to report any unusual sightings. Today I went to Desert Ranch just south of Woodruff Utah looking for raptors. It was pretty dead, only 1 Golden Eagle, 6 Bald Eagles, all at the Ranch House, and 3 Rough-legged Hawk, including a dark morph, but I did see an unusual bird mixed in with some Horned Larks. It was smaller than the Larks, and had a rufus crown stripe and rufus cheek patches, kinda like a Vesper Sparrow. I only got a mili-second look at it before the whole flock flushed and flew south, and it was getting dark too. Of course the first thing that popped into my mind was McCowns or Chesnut-Collared Longspur, but that may just be wishful thinking. Like I said, I only got a very brief look at the bird so I can't positively ID it. So my question is,do Vesper Sparrows hang out with Horned Larks very much? They were just west of the intersection were the road coming from Woodruff meets the road going to the main ranch house.
        Good Birding
        Bryant Olsen
       




------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Birdtalk mailing list
  Birdtalk at utahbirds.org
  http://utahbirds.org/mailman/listinfo/birdtalk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20081229/a1b05b2d/attachment.htm