[Birdtalk] 06/16 Northern Utah & SW Wyoming - 113 species

[Tim Avery]

Today I took John Berner of Houston, TX on a loop of northern Utah, birding Mirror Lake Highway (which is NOW OPEN), Woodruff Narrows Reservoir in Wyoming, Deseret Ranch, Echo Reservoir, Millcreek Canyon and a private residence in Millcreek.  Overall a rather nice day of birding, where 113 species were tallied and  I believe John saw around 10 life birds.  There were however some misses that left me shaking my head.  NO crossbills, not a single one.  Raptors were few and far between, no accipiters, no Ferruginous or Swainson's hawks.  No California Quail despite checking several residential areas that are normally quail filled in Salt Lake.  Not a single Olive-sided Flycatcher, and only 2 Dusky and a single Cordilleran were seen.  Perhaps even more strange was only 1 Wood-Pewee and only 1 Tanager. No goldfinches either!

Despite those misses of usual suspects, we did get some good pickups, including 5 BLACK ROSY-FINCH and 3 PINE GROSBEAK near Bald Mountain.  A single flyby AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER while we were searching for Rock Wren (oh did I mention we missed that one).  We tallied 7 species of warbler and 8 species of sparrow,  and saw 2 pairs of Wilson's Phalarope (one in WY, one in UT).  And at Echo, a pair of Canyon Wren were seen frolicking in a small "cave".  It was a great day to be out birding, instead of stuck at a computer!

Below is a complete list of species seen with a few notes:

Canada Goose   
Gadwall 
American Wigeon   
Mallard  
BLUE-WINGED TEAL - a lone male 
Cinnamon Teal   
Northern Shoveler   
Northern Pintail   
Green-winged Teal  
Canvasback  
Redhead  
LESSER SCAUP - a lone male  
Ruddy Duck   
Eared Grebe  
Western Grebe   
Clark's Grebe  
American White Pelican   
Double-crested Cormorant  
Great Blue Heron   
SNOWY EGRET - at Woodrfuff Narrows
Turkey Vulture   
Northern Harrier   
Red-tailed Hawk   
American Kestrel   
American Coot   
SANDHILL CRANE - pair along the Bear River in Wyoming  
Killdeer  
American Avocet   
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - one flyby on the upper Provo River   
Willet   
WILSON'S SNIPE - one that flew out of a meadow along Mirror Lake Highway  
Wilson's Phalarope   
FRANKLIN'S GULL  - three at Woodruff Narrows
California Gull   
CASPIAN TERN  - one at Echo 
BLACK TERN  - several at Echo and Deseret Ranch
Forster's Tern  
BAND-TAILED PIGEON  - 4 in Millcreek
Mourning Dove   
Common Nighthawk   
Black-chinned Hummingbird   
Broad-tailed Hummingbird  - SO MANY!!!
Belted Kingfisher   
Red-naped Sapsucker  
Hairy Woodpecker   
AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER
Northern Flicker  
Western Wood-Pewee   
Dusky Flycatcher  
Cordilleran Flycatcher   
Western Kingbird   
Eastern Kingbird  
Warbling Vireo   
Steller's Jay  
Western Scrub-Jay   
Clark's Nutcracker   
Black-billed Magpie   
Common Raven   
Horned Lark   
Tree Swallow   
Violet-green Swallow  
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  
Cliff Swallow  
Barn Swallow   
Black-capped Chickadee  
Mountain Chickadee  
Red-breasted Nuthatch  
CANYONE WREN - two at Echo  
House Wren   
Marsh Wren   
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   
Mountain Bluebird   
Townsend's Solitaire 
Hermit Thrush   
American Robin   
GRAY CATBIRD - two along Mirror Lake Highway
Sage Thrasher   
European Starling   
American Pipit   
Cedar Waxwing   
Orange-crowned Warbler   
VIRGINIA'S WARBLER  - pain in the butt! Finally got one at the end of the day 
Yellow Warbler   
Yellow-rumped Warbler  
MacGillivray's Warbler  
Common Yellowthroat   
Wilson's Warbler   
Western Tanager   
Green-tailed Towhee   
Spotted Towhee   
Chipping Sparrow  
Brewer's Sparrow   
VESPER SPARROW - only one along Mirror Lake Highway
Lark Sparrow   
Savannah Sparrow   
Fox Sparrow   
Song Sparrow   
White-crowned Sparrow   
Dark-eyed Junco   
Black-headed Grosbeak   
Lazuli Bunting    
Red-winged Blackbird   
Western Meadowlark  
Yellow-headed Blackbird   
Brewer's Blackbird   
Brown-headed Cowbird  
Bullock's Oriole   
BLACK ROSY-FINCH - 4 flyover at Bald Mountain, and a distant scope view on Bald Mountain  
PINE GROSBEAK - one calling at Bald Mountain and 2 others along Mirror Lake Highway 
CASSIN'S FINCH - only one...  
House Finch  
Pine Siskin  
House Sparrow   

Good Birding


Tim
Salt Lake City, Utah
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
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