[Birdtalk] Nuts About Nutcrackers

[Kristin Purdy]

I revisited Powder Mountain Ski Resort in Weber and Cache Counties Friday to
double check a couple sightings that Wasatch Audubon enjoyed on the group's
regular Wednesday birdwalk. I wanted to watch for what I
thought was a Williamson's Sapsucker when we climbed Lightning Ridge
northwest of the ski area. However, I never got around to doing that.

We had climbing Lightning Ridge Wednesday because we were chasing what we
thought were several distant CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS. The birds did prove to be
nutcrackers after we climbed to the top of the ridge where a barren south
slope meets a limber pine-covered north slope at 9,000 feet. Friday, 
however,
the irony was that the birds were flying at the base of the slope along the
edge of the main parking lot when I arrived. But that was all good. When I
returned to my truck after the hike, a noisy young nutcracker was following
its parent and I got to watch them at an "easy" location--at the north end
of the parking lot behind the maintenance buildings.

I got much better views of nutcrackers on the ridge as well; they landed in
fir tops at eye level and in dead limber pines down the ridge below where I
was standing.

I saw most of the same mid- to high-elevation species that WAS saw
Wednesday, with the addition of a Golden Eagle soaring below me and a
Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Others present on both days include Hairy Woodpeckers,
Red-naped Sapsuckers, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Rock Wrens, a Mountain
Chickadee at a nest cavity, Mountain Bluebirds, MacGillivray's Warblers,
Green-tailed Towhees and Cassin's Finches.

I decided not to dawdle watching for the Williamson's Sapsuckers when the
clouds moved in from the southwest and I didn't want to be a lightning rod
on Lightning Ridge. There's gotta be a reason that place has the name. I
scampered downhill and then back to the flatlands.

Powder Mountain Ski Resort is located along the border of Weber and Cache
Counties and at the terminus of SR-158. It's accessible only through Weber
County and is open to the public in the summer from June 1- August 15. For
more information, launch the link below and scroll down.

Kris

http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/weber/locations.htm