[Birdtalk] Washington County - Migrants & Rarities

Tue Mar 17 10:30:41 MDT 2009

Sending to both BIRDNET and BIRDTALK--- Rarities are as follows:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eurasian Wigeon, Bendire's Thrasher,
Red-shouldered Hawk and Greater White-fronted Goose are all mentioned below,
along with pictures and a number of other birds including spring arrivals...

---------------------------------------

Sam and I drove down to Washington County late on Friday night (03/13),
arriving in the Beaver Dam Wash around midnight.  Hoped to try for owls, but
the wind was howling and didn't die off till early in the morning.  Saturday
(03/14) we woke to trees budding with green, as well as singing Bewick's
Wren, Verdin, Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Cooper's Hawk cackling from a nest
site nearby.  A rooster Ring-necked Pheasant mad ea surprise stroll through
camp, an escape form the game ranch down river.  I took a short stroll
through the trees to see what else was a round, when I flushed a Sapsucker.
It struck me as odd when it flew, and when it landed it was apparent that
thsi was not an adult bird.  The back was heavily barred and had some
brownish feathering on the back, head and front--the head was mostly black
and white with some brown speckling, and a little bit of red on the
forehead.  I got a nice shot of the bird with its head turned, and based off
the time of year am inclined to believe this is a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=570

We spent a few hours wandering up and down the wash at Lytle Ranch.  We
tallied 45 species, including the following highlights:

Wood Duck - 2 - it seems like these are pretty much regular there now...
Eurasian Collared-Dove - this may be my first out there...
Red-naped x Red-breasted Sapsucker - near the housing area
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2 in the pines at the parking area
Lucy's Warbler - not very many but singing and in most areas
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow - saw multiple in the fields along the orchard
Lark Sparrow - this seems a bit early...
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow

After birding at Lytle we headed toward St. George.  A quick stop at Ivins
Reservoir revealed a few Greater Scaup and a handful of other ducks
including a number of Common Merganser.  Heading into town we visited
Tonaquint Park, where there wasn't a whole lot of activity.  The usual
Abert' Towhees were whistling.  A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was seen gliding along
the river, and a PRAIRIE FALCON flew through the cemetery here.

We headed over to Springs Estate Pond which had  a smattering of waterfowl,
no moorhens...  A single Cliff Swallow was flying around over the pond.

We drove into Hurricane and south thought Hurricane field where a dark
MERLIN was seen flying.  It appeared to have some lighter feathering,
leading me to believe it was a cross between a Taiga and a Coastal bird. WE
looped around Sand Hollow where there was a lone AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN on
the lake with 1,000's of coots and ducks.  A Northern Harrier followed
mealong the road allowing for some nice shots:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=570

The SR-9 Sewage ponds had a big flock of Ring-billed Gulls and about 25
Cormorants.  This was the first time I have been down since the new road has
been finished and it was definitely a little different than in the past.
Crossing SR-9 we stopped at the Zions Gate RV Resort where 5 INCA DOVE were
roosting near the club house.  We drove down the road to Stratton Pond which
lacked its usual large presence of waterfowl.  There were however several
Redhead and a number of GREATER SCAUP.

After running a few errands, we headed back west towards the Beaver Dam
Slope.  Just outside of Santa Clara was a large flock of around 250 AMERICAN
CROWS in a field.  3 TURKEY VULTURES were soaring over the gorge to the
south, one being harassed by several crows. We decided to run up to Gunlock
and see what was on the lake.  The water was extremely low, and several
EARED GREBES and a lone COMMON LOON were the extent of birds on the north
end of the lake.  Several BLACK-THROATED SPARROW were singing here and I got
one decent shot:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=570

We stopped briefly at Castle Cliffs (where the road to Lytle starts) where
after pishing for a few minutes a CANYON WREN came out and sang from the
rocks.  A surprise here was a single WHITE-THROATED SWIFT.  Seems like a tad
early, I usually think of these guys as late March early April arrivals, but
Rick or someone else who lives down there can probably shed more information
on this.  Heading out across the Beaver Dam Slope, we visited Zella Tank
which was very overgrown with cattails.  There were no birds which wasn't
surprising for 5pm.  We ended up at our campsite in the middle of nowhere on
the slope in time to set up camp and eat dinner before it got dark.. No
owls, poorwills or night flight calls were heard.

The first bird of Sunday (03/15) was a singing CACTUS WREN near camp in the
dark.  As it became lighter both BLACK-THROATED and SAGE SPARROW were heard
singing around camp.  We headed up the slope towards the main road when a
large bird flushed from near the road and flew off onto a Joshua Tree.  It
struck me as thrasher-like in shape and flight.  When I finally got my
binocs on it, I was shocked to see not a Sage Thrasher, but instead a
BENDIRE'S THRASHER perched a top the tree.  I struggled and grabbed my
camera slipping out of the car and peeking around the site, to take a
picture of the bird which was about 80 or 90 feet down hill.  I snapped off
3 or 4 shots before the bird dove off the tree and flew up and over the hill
heading south.  The best shot I snapped:

 http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=570
If you would like to know exactly where this bird was, please email me
privately and I will share directions to the area.  My only previous
sighting of this species was a vocalizing bird in May 2007 near Zella Tank,
a mile or 2 south of where this bird was.  We drove out to Lytle and spent a
short time here, seeing mostly the same birds as the day before.  A singing
BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER was heard near the camping area.  Surprisingly no
Crissal Thrasher were heard or seen either morning.  No Black-Hawks ye
either, but they should be arriving any day now.  There was a very dark
Red-tailed Hawk, almost black, which for a brief second got me excited when
I flushed it form a tree near an old nest site a ways north up the wash...

We left Lytle stopping at Utah Hill where Juniper Titmouse, Pinyon Jay and
the only Dark-eyed Junco (an Oregon) of the trip was seen. Trying to get out
of St. George at a decent hour, we hurried back towards Hurricane to check
out Sky Mountain Golf Course.  At the first pond we checked out there was a
lone GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE  foraging.  This is the only pond visible
from the road.  I don't remember the exact street name, but its pretty easy
to find.  I knew there had to be another pond, so after spending 15 minutes
driving all the road I finally glimpsed what looked like wigeon  heads
walking along the backside of a bunker.  Sure enough a flock of 200+
American Wigeon were foraging here.  I spent some time wading through them
without luck of finding a Eurasian.  Finally some golfers came by and all
the birds flushed away.  I figured there was a pond, so I found a cart path
and wandered onto the edge of the course finally seeing water, and to my
surprise a beautiful EURASIAN WIGEON swimming with the Americans.  And just
in time for someone to ask what I was doing, and scold me, I snapped a
couple pics and hurried off the course.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=570

Leaving Hurricane we stopped at Quail Creek to see what was hanging out by
the dam.  A handful of ducks including a couple HOODED MERGANSER were in the
shade of the dam, and several hundred gulls were on the sandbar and in the
water  just out from the viewing area here.  2 BONAPARTE'S GULL still
showing winter plumage were feeding by themselves, and after looking through
the flock a 2nd winter HERRING GULL was visible on the sandbar--only the 2nd
I have seen in Washington County.

We left stopping at Chicken Creek reservoir in Juab county.  No shorebirds
yet, but lots of water and lots of waterfowl.  It was a great weekend.  We
managed 106 species by the time we got home, a complete list of which can be
seen below.

Good Birding

Tim

----------------------------------------------
Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Gambel's Quail
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Prairie Falcon
American Coot
Killdeer
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-throated Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Say's Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Western Scrub-Jay
Pinyon Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Juniper Titmouse
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Bendire's Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Phainopepla
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Abert's Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Sage Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

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