[TopOfUtah] Out-of-season birds in Logan

[Ryan O'Donnell]

The theme of the weekend seemed to be out-of-season birds.  An Audubon
trip on Saturday was only mildly productive, producing no birds of note
out of the dense fog that filled most of Cache Valley.  The highlight of
the day for me was a flock of four Yellow-rumped Warblers at First Dam
after the Audubon trip.  Yellow-rumpeds are not all that rare in Cache
Valley in winter, but they aren't common either and it seemed
particularly uncommon to see four of them at one time.
 
Today I only birded for less than an hour, but managed to turn up two
good out-of-season species.  I first went to the Logan Fish Hatchery to
try to photograph the Mew Gull I saw there last weekend.  Among the
gulls, I saw only Ring-billeds this time, but I also found two
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS.  These might occur in the valley every
winter, but they have only been seen once in the last 18 years of
Christmas Bird Counts, so I think they're a pretty good winter find.
(Of course, they'll be common here in summer.)  A photograph of the
adult is here, the other bird was immature:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/BCNHsmall.jpg
 
The other good find of the day was a VIRGINIA RAIL just south of the
Logan Landfill.  We usually get a few of these on every CBC, but I don't
think any were seen (or heard) this year and it's hard to get a good
look at these guys, especially in winter.  Here's a photo:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/VIRAsmall.jpg
 
Good birding,
Ryan
 
Ryan P. O'Donnell
Department of Biology and the Ecology Center
Utah State University
5305 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-5305
 
http://200birds.blogspot.com