[Birdtalk] Antelope Island 1/2/09 - Eastern Kingbird?

[Jessica S.]

Happy New Year!

Cory and I birded Antelope Island Causeway and Garr Ranch yesterday (see
report below).

I have a couple questions for those who bird there frequently...

1. Is it really out of line to see an Eastern Kingbird on Antelope this time
of year?

While driving away from the visitor center, we saw what looked like an
Eastern Kingbird sitting atop sage brush. It would fly away for a moment,
then return to its perch. In addition to its kingbird shape and demeanor,
this bird had:

   - Black hood
   - Black back
   - White throat/chest
   - White on tail

It flew before we got closer, and it was at the edge of our binocular range,
so I'm not completely convinced I've ID'd it correctly, especially since
eBird challenged the entry and Sibley indicates it's a summer-only bird. Any
ideas of a more common look-alike?

2. Out at Garr Ranch, there's a brush pile where a pair of wrens live. It's
in the pasture to the south of the spring house and east of the picnic
tables. Cory and I had them pegged as House Wrens, but eBird challenged, so
I thought I'd verify with others who have probably seen them. We were torn
between House and Winter... are we wrong? (We didn't see them this weekend
-- I just got around to entering them into eBird yesterday.)

The coolest thing we saw yesterday was 8 bald eagles sitting on what looked
like an ice sheet on the north side of the causeway. We don't have pro
camera equipment, but a photo of the closest two are posted on Cory's blog:
http://corys.posterous.com/getting-out-on-a-warm-jan-day  I'd think they
were ice fishing, but there are no fish...

It was a warm day, but if we'd braved the cold today, it sounds like we
would have seen the Ruff and other cool birds... so much for being wimpy!

-Jessica

Location:     Antelope Island
Observation date:     1/2/09
Notes:     57 bison<br>Coyote (heard)
Number of species:     9

Northern Shoveler     100
Common Goldeneye     100
California Gull    100
Bald Eagle     8
Northern Harrier     4
Killdeer     20
Eastern Kingbird     1
Common Raven     8
swallow sp.     30

Location:     Antelope Island--Garr Ranch
Observation date:     1/2/09
Number of species:     8

Northern Flicker     3
American Robin     3
European Starling     20
Spotted Towhee     4
Song Sparrow     2
Dark-eyed Junco     2
Red-winged Blackbird     5
American Goldfinch     6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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