[Birdtalk] East Canyon Creek road birding

[Dave Hanscom]

After reading Tim's post last week about seeing a Tennessee Warbler and 
Calliope Hummingbird along East Canyon Creek, I decided to head down that 
way on Sun to check things out.  No luck on either of those target birds, 
but there was lots of other avian life to see, including a very friendly 
Swainson's Thrush, House Wren, Fox Sparrow, Cedar Waxwing, Black-throated 
and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Catbird, etc.

Today I birded the upper part of the creek, starting from the bottom of 
the Jeremy Golf Course.  I biked the dirt road as far as the Morgan County 
line (about 3 miles), and found some nice birds.  Several Willow Fly- 
catchers, a Golden Eagle heading south toward the mountains, Fox Sparrows 
and Swainson's Thrushes singing in the willows all along the way, a 
Spotted Sandpiper, a Bullock's Oriole and lots of Cedar Waxwings in the 
cottonwoods near the county line, a House Wren nesting in a pipe being 
used for a fence along the county line, etc, etc.  I was also hoping for a 
dipper, but no luck there either.

For those of you not familiar with the area, the dirt road Tim described 
(that goes south at the bottom of the hill in the highway over Big 
Mountain) is the same one that goes north from the lower end of the Jeremy 
Golf Course.  It's much quicker to go that way to the East Canyon 
Reservoir from Park City than to go over Big Mountain Pass.

Dave Hanscom