[TopOfUtah] Sunday Cache Valley: Merlin, Bohemians, Rough-legs

[Buck Russell]

Normally you can find Horned Larks in the fields on the west side of Benson Marina.  Occasionally you will see Tree Sparrows at Benson Marina, but the best place is at Bud Phelps WMA.  The best place for Common Grackles are the Poplar trees on the south side of the Willow Park Zoo, but they have also been spotted near the Logan Polishing Ponds.   You had a great day birding!
Thanks.
Buck


Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 22:28:58 -0700From: craig.fosdick at gmail.comTo: topofutah at utahbirds.orgSubject: [TopOfUtah] Sunday Cache Valley: Merlin, Bohemians, Rough-legs
Sunday I spent about 7 hrs doing a Cache Valley patrol.  My efforts paid off well.   I started around 845 am at First Dam with Barrow's and Common Goldeneye, and a fluffed-up Townsend's Solitaire chowing on juniper berries.  Next stop was the USU campus, but it was hit-n-run, and the Bohemians were not in sight, but 35 Cedar Waxwings and a Yellow-rumped Warbler were.   Onward…..two Eurasian Collared Doves were chillin' with some Mourning Doves at 10W 6S in Logan.  Not much moving at Spring Creek WMA.   At the Logan River bend near Utah 30 and 1900 W, there was, among the Mallard and Ring-billed Gulls, 1 lonesome female Northern Shoveler, 4 Green-winged Teal, 2 Killdeer, a Belted Kingfisher, and 4 Greater Yellowlegs, as well as an annoyed Northern Flicker (one of 5+ seen on the day) that took off in disgust when I arrived. 
 
Plenty of raptors around the valley, with 12+ Rough-legged Hawks, 10+ Northern Harriers, and 6+ Red-tailed Hawks, and that's with just one pair of eyes and I only covered part of the area bounded by 10 West in Logan, Utah 23 on the west side, Mendon Rd on the south, and Utah 218 on the north.  A Prairie Falcon was near the Benson boat launch, and a Merlin at the pig farm on Sam Feller Rd was diligently, but unsuccessfully, chasing >1,000 Starlings.   Two kestrels just sat and watched the Merlin chase the starlings. I could not discern what they thought of the spectacle. I thought it was great….but the Merlin probably did not.   The afterburners were on, but to no avail! 
 
An adult Bald Eagle and 2 Common Mergansers (but nothing else) were at Cutler Reservoir at Cache Jct.   Newton Reservoir was deserted save for a Golden Eagle, and Clarkston Cemetery was completely deserted.  Heading towards the Smithfield Cemetery, I was pleasantly surprised to find 43 Bohemian Waxwings at Smithfield City Park at Utah 218 and Main (US 91).   The waxwings were promptly kicked up by a hatch-year Sharp-shinned Hawk, but the Sharp-shinned was no more successful than the Merlin, and that was the last I saw of the Bohemians.   I made it to Smithfield Cemetery at 430 pm, just as birds were busy finding their beds; two Red-tailed Hawks and a Steller's Jay both went to roost as I watched.   Headed back to Logan, I quickly spun past the airport (1 Northern Harrier, but no Short-eared Owls), where I had a kestrel almost did a face-plant on my windshield.  Driving down 10 West in Logan I did a u-turn to check a mixed flock of starlings and blackbirds.   Just starlings, Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds (30+).  I tried, but could produce neither a Common Grackle nor a Rusty Blackbird.   Not even a cowbird!  Good day, very enjoyable, fairly weak on the sparrows.  I'm still figuring out the Utah avifauna, but was surprised to find no American Tree Sparrows anywhere, and even more surprised that I missed Western Meadowlark and Horned Lark completely.   Do most half-hardies completely vacate Cache Valley in winter?  And no Common Redpolls; I'll try next weekend, as they are showing up in Idaho. 
 
Good birding, Craig.

_________________________________________________________________
Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista® + Windows Live™.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC_MediaCtr_bigscreen_102007
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/topofutah/attachments/20071204/48a138d0/attachment.htm