[Birdtalk] Clay-colored Sparrow, B&W Warb, etc SL County

[Tim Avery]

This morning Jeff Bilsky and I headed out to Saltair to do a lake watch, hoping that the wind and rain would push some goodies along the shore.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to Saltair just before 8am, the winds were weak, and the storm had all but passed.  Besides 1000's of Eared Grebes on the water, a small flock of RED-NECKED PHALAROPE flew past the marina, along wiht one other unidentified shorebird.  There were 3 BLUE-WINGED TEAL, 15 Greater Yellowlegs, and 3 Lesser Yellowlegs on the pond jsut south of the marina.  And a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers were flitting about in the trees here as well.

Our next stop was 9000 West and SR-201.  Jsut south of the highway in the trees on both sides of 9000 West were 50-60 Yellow-rumped Warblers.  THe brunt of the activity was on the east side of the road, where we also found a single female TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, a lone Orange-crowned Warbler, several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Jeff had a Cassin's Vireo.

We checked out the property on 8000 West around 2200 South where a few White-crowned Sparrow and Yellow-rumped Warbler were hanging out.  Nothing else of interest.

We made a quick drive past the Lee Kay Ponds, where there were few birds on the ponds.  Several pelicans and cormorants were present as well as Eared and Pied-billed Grebes. A late YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was along the fence-line at the far west end of the west pond.

The first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK of the fall was seen sitting on a telephone pole near 5600 West and 1700 South.

We next headed to the International Center where we checked for the Swamp Sparrow reported by Mark last week, but came up empty.  I would say there were hundreds of Yellow-rumped Warblers present today.  We then stopped just south of the Gas Station, near the Perkin's restaurant and the first bird I spotted on the ground was what looked like a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW.  At the same time Jeff was getting out of the car and spotted a warbler that looked to be a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER.  And at the same time my phone rang, as Colby was showing up trying to find us.  In all the turmoil, combined with what seemed like a high volume of traffic for a Sunday at the IC, the sparrow flock flew off, and by the time I got out of the car to see the warbler it had flown off. Colby found a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW about 15 minutes later on the south side of the large field just north of the restaurant (on the east side of the hotel that it is connected to).

In this same area we had a Cassin's Vireo, Red-naped Sapsucker and a Green-tailed Towhee and 5 American Crow (which may have been new for the IC list in eBird).

We checked out a few other spots and made our way to the middle of the IC near the Intersection of Lindbergh and Earhart.  We kind of plit up and wlaked around, not seeing a whole lot.  Colby and I ended up in the parking lot on the southwest side of the Fox 13 building where several warblers were in the trees, including: Wilson's, MacGillivray's, Orange-crowned and yellow-rumped.  As I pished the bird that I thought was a Townsend's Warbler flew in, and after passing it off as just odd, we went on our way, unfortunately, I was the only one who saw it :(.  Colby found a Hammond's Flycatcher near the intersection, and several Turkey Vulture were seen flying over the area. Jeff found a Hermit Thrush in the same area.

We also birded along Wright Brothers Drive north of the intersection with Earhart where a juvenile Sapsucker was seen 3 or 4 times breifly.  It was a RN/YB type, but didn't want to sit still for a look.

Not a bad day at the IC, the kind that makes it such a great place to go!  And if I missed or forgot anything, Colby and/or Jeff can add their own email!

Good Birding

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