[Birdtalk] A day of it

[Doug Roberts]

Hi Jeff,Great post! You have really caught the excitement of birding. Look out, you'll be addicted...like me! 
We must have been at Antelope Island at the same time. I'm glad you saw the Long-tailed Duck too. Maybe I wasn't hallucinating. If you ever see a white truck with the plates BIRDDUG, stop and say HI!I also bought the seed catcher from Billy, but haven't tried it yet. Wasatch Audubon has frequent bird walks. See http://www.wasatchaudubon.org/.A good place to start your life list is http://www.ebird.orgHave fun,Doug



--- On Fri, 2/6/09, Jeffrey Holt <jeff.holt7 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Jeffrey Holt <jeff.holt7 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Birdtalk] A day of it
To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 10:41 AM

I've enjoyed the list. This is my first time writing. We live in Huntsville and being right on the lake got me interested in birds about 18 months ago.Must be the 1-2 bald eagles sitting in the cottonwoods behind the house almost every day for the winter months. And the sand hill cranes. And the Grebes dancing/running in pairs on the lake. etc., etc., etc. So, in the last 12 months, trips to Jordan, Israel, Costa Rica and Alaska somehow became more birding trips than was their original intent.


A week ago I ventured to Francis and saw the Evening Grosbeaks and the Cedars. Great few hours there!
Yesterday, I had to be in Provo and thought I'd go up to Alta and see if I could see the Rosy Finches, but ran out of time after an extended visit to Cabela's.

Instead I stopped in Layton at the Wild Bird Store and bought a long tube feeder for the oiled sunflower seeds. I saw those really cool seed catchers and thought about the inch and a half of seed on the ground under my other feeder and so I bought two. Billy Fenimore said that a local lady makes them.  Bravo. I drove the causeway to Antelope Island (while I was there), and saw the Gorgeous male Bufflehead and the shovelers. I also saw that female long-tail (I thought it was a Ruddy, but no blue in the beak). And many Common Goldeneyes and Widgeons. I saw the Northern Harrier flying parallel to the causeway on the way back and then on the ground eating something about 40 yards off the left side of the causeway just before the ranger station. (Do you all pay $9 every time you go out?)

And then home to install the new feeder. I'm not sure I was ready for this. The thistle mix has worked pretty well and I had about 8-10 regulars (siskins, juncos and Goldfinches) with it. The oiled sunflower seed in the tube with the net catchers underneath work very well. Love those. So now I have fifty birds sitting out there, including some very pretty house finches. 

BUT I CAN WATCH THE LEVEL OF THE SEEDS DROP IN THE GLASS TUBE - REAL-TIME! Yikes. this is going to cost me. I may have to mix that seed (read; water down/dilute). Or we're going to have to ask Questar to run a "bird seed line" directly to the feeders.

Thanks to all of you who alert the list to good sightings around the State. I will try to add my two cents as the opportunity arises.Jeff Holt

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