[ucbnet] First time birding

[kclantz]

Greetings everyone!

I have been on this list for quite sometime now, and have wanted to started birding for a long time.  Unfortunately being in graduate school and working three jobs makes this quite difficult.  

Anyhow, I finally went out for the first time to officially bird.  Gathering my field guides (I have the National Audobon Society, as well as a green book called Utah Birds) and binoculars I went to the Airport Dike on memorial day.   As it turns out, my identification skills are more or less limitted to Yellow-headed and Red-winged blackbirds.  Nonetheless I had a good time and look forward to going again.  I really hope that I will be able to start going on the club field trips, since my identification skills really not a lot of help.  (i'd like to be able to say I saw something besides blackbirds!).

Just off the road as I got started on the dike I did see some yellow birds that I was curious about.  They were absolutely beautiful.  There were about five or six of them hopping about the bushes.  They were mostly yellow with black wings.  Some of them had white or light yellow stripes across their wings.  I also thought I could see orange on some of the heads.   Unfortunately they were kind of hopping around too fast for me to get a good solid look.  It appears to me that they were either Western Tanagers or Bullock's Orioles.  How possible are either of these?  Have other people seen them at the Dike and might be able to clear up their identity for me?  

Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.  I am completely ignorant about all of this, and would love to learn from someone a bit more experienced.  I also look forward to getting more invovled locally.  

Thanks in advance!

Casey



		
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