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

[STEPHEN T CARLILE]

An Eastern Kingbird would be unusual for this time of year.  Could it have been a shrike?  I have seen them in the area where  you were driving.  Shrikes have the "fly and return to perch" behavior and at a glance they have the general plumage pattern you described.  Loggerhead Shrikes breed on the island and Northern Shrikes winter there.  I saw one today.  House Wrens would be unlikely this time of year.  Winter wrens are possible and have been seen before.  They are the smallest of our wrens.  Rock Wrens live year round on the island, but are usually in a different habitat.  Bewick's Wrens are also possible and have been seen on the island during the winter. Sorry, not much help on the wrens.  The Bald Eagles catch and eat the ducks and they also move around a lot.  Good luck.

Thanks,

Stephen
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jessica S.<mailto:jesstokes at gmail.com> 
  To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org<mailto:birdtalk at utahbirds.org> 
  Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 6:43 PM
  Subject: [Birdtalk] Antelope Island 1/2/09 - Eastern Kingbird?


  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: 

    a.. Black hood 
    b.. Black back 
    c.. White throat/chest 
    d.. 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<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<http://ebird.org/>)

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