[Birdtalk] Gilded Flicker, Trumpeters, Etc

[Tim Avery]

This afternoon while guiding 2 photographers around Washington County
we had some interesting sightings.

At Lytle Ranch in the Orchard I photographed what looks to be a clean
GILDED FLICKER, not the same bird Rick and I observed the previous
day.  This bird was ALSO seen, in the vicinity of the old beaver dam
along the creek.  I will be able to post some shots on Tuesday when I
get back to Salt Lake.

Other birds of interest at Lytle included:

Ferruginous Hawk (in the orchard again)
Townsend's Solitaire - 2 birds today
Hooded Merganser - 7 on the main pond

We started the day near Hurricane at Stratton Pond which had a
smattering of waterfowl including numerous GREATER SCAUP and HOODED
MERGANSER.

At the Zions Gate RV Resort were 6-7 INCA DOVE.  Interestingly today I
noted the interesting flight call that I don't recall hearing before.
As the birds flew they gave off an almost mechanical clicking noise
that was quite interesting.

In Hurricane Fields were several FERRUGINOUS HAWKS and several hundred
if not thousand Red-winged Blackbird.

At Sand Hollow were 2 TRUMPETER SWAN and 6 TUNDRA SWAN along what I
think is the south shore.

Tonaquint Nature Center had its usual smattering of ABERT'S TOWHEE.

We headed to Lytle where the birding was a bit slow minus the
flickers.  Finally we ended up in Mesquite at Golf Course pond that
along with the unique domestic mix of Mute Swan, Barn Geese, Domestic
Mallard and Muscovy were 2 ROSS'S GEESE, 1 SNOW GOOSE, 4 CANVASBACK, a
dozen or so Lesser Scaup, a couple Ruddy Duck, Shovelers, and Canada
Geese.  6 Double-crested Cormorant and well over 100 Great-tailed
Grackle rounded out the mix of birds in Nevada.

Good Birding

Tim