[Birdtalk] Washington County Weekend Recap

[Tim Avery]

This is long, highlights are included in top portion, and noted in the complete list at the bottom.

This weekend, Jeff Bilsky and birded around Washington County to see what migrants we could turn up and what specialty breeders were already here.  Jeff left Friday evening, but I couldn't take off till late.  I ended up meeting him in Washington City at 3:00am on Saturday morning and driving out on old hwy 91 to the Beaver Dam Slope.  We had hoped to do some owling in the Beaver Dam Wash, but the winds were intense, gusting to 25-20 mph which made owling out of the question. Besides not going owling, we saw NO poorwills on the road out, which seemed strange.  In any event, I ended up napping in the car, while Jeff attempted to brave the winds just as it was getting light.  We met up at the ranch around 7:30 or 8:00 where we found the Sommerfeld's, and later Lu Giddings and I didn't catch the fella he was withs name. 

Pictures from this weekend, including Brown-crested Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Black-chinned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, Inca Dove, Vermilion Flycatcher, White-winged Dove and more:
http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=582&page=1&sort=na&ecid=wash01

Lytle was hoping, I think we ended up with just over 60 species between the Sommerfeld's, Jeff and I.  Highlights included great looks at a BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER (photos), which at one point sat just a foot away from an Ash-throated for perfect comparison.  There was a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH where the river crosses the road, just below the ranch; the 2 VERMILION FLYCATCHERS remain in the orchard--I sure hope they set up and nest, as thatwould be awesome! There were lots of migrants, but none in exceptional numbers--lone CASSIN'S VIREO, Plumbeous Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Dusky Flycatcher, etc. I had a lone singing Crissal Thrasher near the corrals, and a lone Costa's Hummingbird near the feeders.

Jeff and I took off across the Beaver Dam Slope, picking up SCOTT'S ORIOLE and Cactus Wren along the way.  I was in awe of the numerous Northern Mockingbirds on the slope.  Jeff said they were there a couple weeks ago, but I have NEVER seen on on the actual slope in all the trips down there.  Does Rick or anyone have any insight into why these birds have moved into the slope? Anyhow, we continued back towards St. George stopping at Ivins Reservoir, which was pretty dead, and Tonaquint Park where a singing Bell's Vireo provided a great photo opp! Are next destination was Kolob Terrace where we had hoped to rack up some montane species.  The winds were howling up on top and it made birding very difficult.  We missed almost every species we had hoped to see, except for GRACE'S WARBLER (which was a lifer for Jeff). On Kolob Reservoir, was a surprise in 13 GREATER SCAUP.  This seems awfully late for these guys to still be hanging out this far south.

After leaving "Zion" we stopped at Zion's Gate RV Resort in Hurricane where we potentially had the fastest finding of INCA DOVE, as 2 were on the lawn right at the entrance.  I got a pretty cool flight shot of one with the orange flight feathers showing.  After wandering around to a few other stops, we met up with the Sommerfeld's near Seegmiler Marsh to see what birds we could pull out of the Virgin River bottom at dusk.  We all saw Great and Snowy Egrets, Yellowthroat, Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, and a few ducks.  Jeff and the Sommerfeld's were off looking at a Yellowthroat, as I wandered along a canal, where I hit the jackpot with a single COMMON MOORHEN, SORA and 3 Least Sandpipers.  At one point a Moorhen also called form the reeds a couple times, and both Jeff and I heard a Green Heron cackling a couple times. No Willow Flycatchers was surprising. Right as it started to get dark, the LESSER NIGHTHAWKS came out and started feeding over the Washington Fields.

Afterwards, Jeff and I drove back out to the slope. On old highway 91 just outside of Shivwits, there was a California King Snake in the road.  This is the 2nd I have seen on this stretch through the desert. Out on the slope we finally saw a couple poorwills, and ended up at our campsite in the desert with no wind! After setting up tents, a Northern Mockingbird broke into song! It was like 10:30 at night, and pretty soon it was joined by another.  The 2 birds sang an array of other birds songs, calls and chirps and beeps for at least the next 2 hours.  We wondered if it was because of the bright full moon lighting up the entire slope.  On top of this, we had a pretty steady flow of migrants flying over giving flight calls.  I probably heard 15-20 calls in the hour or so I sat out of my tent in the dark.  Mostly sparrows, but there were a couple warbler type zips, and a few calls that I couldn't put a species or family group to.\

Sunday we headed back out to Lytle, which was similar to the day before.  We added Gray Flycatcher, and that was about it.  We stopped at Utah Hill on the way back to St. George and picked up both BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW as well as GRAY VIREO. There were also several Black-throated Gray Warbler singing here, and our ONLY Barn Swallow of the trip.  Further down the canyon back towards Shivwits, we picked up our only MacGillivray's Warbler of the trip in the worst possible habitat for any warbler.  You have to love migration! We stopped at a few locations around St. George, eventually going to Sand Hollow to hop on the Graganey search bandwagon.  And like everyone else we had not luck.  We did manage to get Caspian, Forster's and BLACK Tern all at the lake though. A couple more stops around St. George, produced a couple more species, before Jeff and I split for the weekend. 

I headed back north stopping at Yuba Lake State Park where I added: Golden Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Osprey, Clark's Grebe, Bank Swallow, Sage Thrasher, and Horned Lark for the trip.  About 20 minutes later I met back up with Bilsky at Chicken Creek Reservoir (both these lakes are in Juab County), where we added all the shorebirds we had missed elsewhere, including: Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Dowitcher, Red-necked and Wilson's Phalarope, Willet, and American Avocet.  We also ticked off Yellow-headed Blackbird and Blue-winged Teal.

I picked up my last bird of the trip flying over the freeway in Provo--a lone American White Pelican!

Surprising misses from here and for the entire weekend included: NO Blue Grosbeaks (which have to be arriving nay day now), Northern Harrier, Swainson's Hawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher (again should be on the way like today), Franklin's Gull, Acorn Woodpecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hammonds & Corilleran Flycatcher, Mountain Chickadee, all 3 Nuthatches!?!?, Juniper Titmouse, either Thrush, and Virginia's Warbler. There are other species we also missed, like Anna's Hummingbird, Garganey, and Zone-tailed Hawk, and we didn't go into Zion Canyon so birds like Wild Turkey and Painted Redstart were also missed.  


Pictures from this weekend, including Brown-crested Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Black-chinned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, Inca Dove, Vermilion Flycatcher, White-winged Dove and more:
http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=582&page=1&sort=na&ecid=wash02

Here is my Complete Trip List 05/08-05/10 Salt Lake to Washington County and Back (161 Species)--Jeff saw a few other species I believe, and didn't get a couple of these, so he may post as well.  And I talked to the Sommerfeld's who saw a few other birds that we missed as well, so together we probably saw around 175 species for the weekend, not a bad couple days:

Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal - 4 t Chicken Creek
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
GREATER SCAUP - 13 on Kolob Reservoir... Extremely late that far south.
Lesser Scaup
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Gambel's Quail
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
GREAT EGRET - 2 (1 at Seegmiller Marsh, 1 at Southgate Golf Course)
Snowy Egret
GREEN HERON - 1 heard at Seegmiller Marsh
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
COMMON BLACK-HAWK - 2 at Lytle Ranch
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
SORA - 1 at Seegmiller Marsh
COMMON MOORHEN - Potentially 2 at Seegmiller Marsh (1 visual and 1 probabl audible)
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper - Probably saw 25 at various stops thorughout the weekend
Willet
Marbled Godwit - Huge flock at Chicken Creek
Least Sandpiper - 3 at Seegmiller Marsh
Long-billed Dowitcher - Several at Chicken Creek
Wilson's Phalarope - 2 at Chicken Creek
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE - 50 at Chicken Creek
BONAPARTE'S GULL - 1 at Sand Hollow State Park--really late
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Caspian Tern - 3 at Sand Hollow
BLACK TERN- 1 at Sand Holow
Forster's Tern - 2 at Sand Hollow
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove - 4 at Lytle Ranch
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove - 2 at Zions Gate RV Resort
LESSER NIGHTHAWK - 4 or 5 over the Washington Fields after sunset
Common Poorwill
White-throated Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD - 1 male seen displaying at Lytle
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
LEWIS'S WOODPECKER - 2 flying over at Lytle Ranch! Have to be migrants--what an odd sight
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
VERMILION FLYCATCHER - 2 remain at Lytle Ranch.  Couldn't ask for a better opportunity to view these birds.
Ash-throated Flycatcher
BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER - 2 at Lytle Ranch
CASSIN'S KINGBIRD - a single flyover at Lytle Ranch
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Bell's Vireo
Gray Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
CASSIN'S VIREO - lingering at Lytle
Warbling Vireo
Western Scrub-Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
WESTERN BLUEBIRD - 1 at Kolob Terrace--do they breed in Washignton County?
Mountain Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird - dozens on the Beaver Dam Slope--very odd--and singing to a ful moon at midnight!
Sage Thrasher
Crissal Thrasher - 1 heard singing at Lytle
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Phainopepla
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Grace's Warbler - 2 or 3 on Kolob Terrace
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH - 1 where the river crosses the road below Lytle Ranch
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT - 1 at Lytle
Summer Tanager
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Abert's Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Black-chinned Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Scott's Oriole
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

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

Good Birding


Tim
Salt Lake City, Utah
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
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