[TopOfUtah] Re: [Birdtalk] Bridgerland Audubon 200 Club birding

[Nancy Williams]

Hi there! We birded yesterday on the valley floor and passed a couple of BAS
groups near the oxbow of the Bear, and again on the airport road.

Out by the airport we saw 5 *Brewer's blackbirds* and a short-eared owl, and
on the road to Benson Marina a *northern shrike* and some horned larks.
Also, many flocks of western meadowlarks, more than I've ever seen here in
the dead of winter. There was a *chipping sparrow* at Pelican Pond.

Near the fish hatchery on Valley View highway we saw the gull (I called it a
California too, but it may not have been) and the dowitcher. Also, one lone
killdeer and a belted kingfisher. Did not see the great egret. Would have
loved to stop longer but the 18-wheelers zooming past plus the snow and ruts
didn't allow us to get safely off the road.

happy birding,

At the 20-20 ponds we saw a pair of shovelers and a bufflehead among dozens
of gadwalls.




On Jan 2, 2008 2:29 PM, Connie McManus <connie.mcmanus at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ryan,
> I thought about posting my observations yesterday, but I thought it better
> to wait for a more experienced birder ,,, such as yourself,,, to do the
> honors.  Thanks for the post.
>
>  I looked over your list and did not see the Northern Shovelers seen at
> 20-20 and and two Western Screech Owls.  Rheinhardt really wanted to find
> waxwings, so  I took him where he wanted to go, which was along the canal
> trail above canyon rd.  There, we  saw pine siskins, along with the routine
> feeder birds and a downy woodpecker.  Then we saw a nice flock of bohemians,
> cedar waxwings and 4 american robins on 4th north and 6th east.  It was a
> mighty cold day, but beautiful and fun.
>
> If anyone wants a chum to go birding with, let me know.
>
> Connie McManus
>
>
> On Jan 2, 2008 1:02 PM, Ryan O'Donnell <ryan at biology.usu.edu > wrote:
>
> > Since no one else has posted any findings from yesterday's Bridgerland
> > Audubon field trip (1 Jan 2008), I'll post what I saw.  There were about
> > 20 people on this year's trip.  I'm sure no one saw the exact same list
> > as anyone else, so there may be cool additions to this list that I
> > didn't catch.
> >
> > The trip ranged far and wide, from above 3rd dam in Logan Canyon, to the
> > 20-20 ponds, to the Benson Marina (directions to these locations are on
> > the Bridgerland Audubon webpage). The highlights included BOHEMIAN
> > WAXWINGS, AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, MERLINS, a GREAT EGRET and a GREATER
> > YELLOWLEGS.  We spent a good amount of time in the afternoon scanning
> > WESTERN MEADOWLARK flocks but were unable to pick out any snow buntings
> > or longspurs.  I also couldn't find the short-billed dowitcher that had
> > been reported by the fish hatchery, but myself and others tried to turn
> > WILSON'S SNIPE and the yellowlegs into the dowitcher.  There was also a
> > gull there that threw me off at first.  I eventually considered it a
> > California gull, but I still feel like it's mantle was too dark and its
> > legs too pale.  I'm curious if anyone else saw this gull, and any
> > thoughts on what it might be, if not a California.
> >
> > My total list for the day was 60 species.  You can find the entire list
> > on my blog, where I'll also be posting my progress towards my goal of
> > seeing 200 species in Cache County this year:
> > http://200birds.blogspot.com/.
> >
> > Happy year-listing,
> > Ryan
> >
> > Ryan P. O'Donnell
> > Department of Biology and the Ecology Center
> > Utah State University
> > 5305 Old Main Hill
> > Logan, UT 84322-5305
> >
> > http://home.comcast.net/~tsirtalis/<http://home.comcast.net/%7Etsirtalis/>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Birdtalk at utahbirds.org
> > http://utahbirds.org/mailman/listinfo/birdtalk
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Connie McManus
> Nibley, Cache County, Utah
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>



-- 
Nancy Williams, Asst. Prof.
Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
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