2005
Field Trip Report
Local City Parks - November 12th, 2005
by Leena Rogers

About a dozen enthusiastic Utah County birders and several visitors braved the cold, showery weather on Saturday morning to meet at 8:00 a.m. at Paul Ream Park in Provo Tuula Rose and Milt Moody had planned a field trip to several of the local parks, two local cemeteries, as well as Hobble Creek Canyon. Hobble Creek, especially, had looked very promising as they scouted out the field trip route a few days previously.

The theme running through the morning seemed to be "Where are the birds?" They obviously were smarter than our birding group -- away from the elements, staying snug and warm, hidden away from view. The birds continued to evade us at each location. Well, the company was wonderful even if the birding left something to be desired!

At the Springville Cemetery we ended the day on a brighter note. The sun finally came out and Tuula Rose pointed out a rainbow displayed against a beautiful mountain backdrop. Just as we were ready to get into our cars and head for home a pair of playful Belted Kingfishers, darting and diving, flew past our group calling out to each other and reminding us why we continue to love birding!

Unbelievable as it sounds, the list below consists of the TOTAL number of birds we saw:

Paul Ream Park, Provo
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Kestrel, House Sparrow, Magpie.

Provo City Cemetery
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Flicker, Magpie, American Robin.

Bi-Centennial Park, Provo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lesser Goldfinch, Magpie, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bushtits [flock], House Finch, Mallard.

Hobble Creek Canyon
Chickadees [heard], Red-tailed Hawk, Kestrel, Magpie.

Springville Cemetery
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Belted Kingfisher [pair].

Thanks Tuula and Milt for a fun morning. Continued good birding everyone!
The birding gods were not smiling on Saturday morning. Most of the time we contended with a cool brisk wind mixed with a drizzly rain. I kept my binocs zipped inside my jacket to keep the rain off the lenses. Not to worry, there weren't that many occasions that called for their use.

1997

MY FIRST TRIP WITH THE UTAH COUNTY BIRDERS
Report by Club President, Ned Hill

Ouray National Wildlife Refuge Field Trip
April 26, 1997
by Ned Hill (ned_hill@byu.edu)
Four a.m. came very early--especially since we had helped a Cub Scout Pack learn about birds and see their very first owls only a few hours before. Nevertheless, the thrill of an all day birding trip to one of Utah's best birding areas with good friends tends to push sleep from the mind. Joined by four carloads of other birders waiting in the Bean Museum parking lot, we sallied forth shortly after five with CB radios at the ready to communicate any interesting birds along the way.

Swainson's Hawk

We drove through the landslide up Provo Canyon and then on to Duchesne while witnessing a beautiful pink and blue sunrise. The first bird of note was a newly arrived Swainson's Hawk sitting on a power pole. Our first birding stop was Pelican Lake, about 20 miles outside Roosevelt. We had hoped to find Eurasian Wigeon but were unsuccessful. We did find Western Kingbird, American White Pelican, Snow Goose, Common and Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, dozens of Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, Eared Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Bufflehead, Redhead, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Greater (with the iridescent green head) and Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Snowy Egret and other common waterfowl. Dozens of Yellow-headed and Redwinged Blackbirds were setting up territories.
We learned that Ouray National Wildlife Refuge was hosting an "open house." That explained the long lines of vans and busses at each observation point along the way. Many scout organizations were using this to culminate "bird month" in scouting. Ouray is a relatively new refuge, having been built in the late 1960's to mitigate the Flaming Gorge Dam construction. It has a series of holding ponds for migrating waterfowl and some areas of riparian woods. Because of the cool spring weather, the migration has been delayed by a week or so. Rangers told us that many more migrants had arrived by this time last year. We saw very few migrant songbirds with the exception of House Wren, Barn and Tree Swallows, Marsh Wren, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. There was, of course, the usual collection of blackbirds, Black-necked Stilts, Willet, Killdeer, Great Blue Heron and porcupines! It seemed as if every taller tree had a resident porcupine stripping bark from the branches. One of the more memorable sights of the day was of a Great Horned Owl chick, all white and fluffy, sitting in an open nest not far from a parking area. The mother was nearby carefully concealed in a tangle of branches. In the same area was a Red-tailed Hawk nest with a screaming mother perched above.
Taking a welcome break at refuge headquarters, we got to see a Harris Hawk tethered to a pole. It had been injured and was being shown by a falconer who stated that our group was the only one who knew what kind of bird he had. The find of the day came in the early afternoon as we walked down a road in the Leota Bottoms. After seeing several lumbering Great Blues, an American Bittern sailed into view. We watched it glide to a landing on the edge of a pond and then stealthily walk along the bank searching for fish in the shallow waters. We all had a wonderful look at this relatively rare (but regular) Utah resident. Some in the group spotted another bittern a few dozen yards from the first but it quickly slipped into the reeds where it became one with the vegetation.
The trip home produced several Osprey and Common Loons near Starvation Lake. We had never seen an Osprey in a juniper tree before. In the Strawberry Valley we found two Sandhill Cranes feeding along the edge of melting snow near a thawed field filled with American Pipits, Horned Larks, Long-billed Curlews, White-faced Ibis and American Crows. In the distance we heard more cranes.
While waiting for the rock slide traffic light in Provo Canyon, a beautiful Belted Kingfisher bounded up the river--our 70th bird of the day and a nice ending to a perfect birding day. Some in the group found nearly 20 new species and all found Ouray NWR to be a site worthy of many return trips.

BIRDS ON US COINS

Steve center and furthest back with the baseball cap, and 20 some odd Utah Birding Friends.

NOTE: I found the following short message written by Steve Carr in December 2008. Steve was a past President of the Utah Ornithological Society and one of the few individuals to achieve the 100 species of birds in each of Utah's 29 counties feat. He had a wide variety of interests.  Steve passed away on January 17, 2014.

 

This message is only for birders who enjoy birding trivia.  All others can delete immediately.

Ten years ago, the US government began a program of minting 25-cent pieces for each of the 50 states.  With Hawaii's coin having been minted, the set is complete.  We thought some of you might be interested is knowing how many birds are depicted on the 50 quarters.

AR - shows a Duck lifting off the water.

CA - California Condor.

ID - A large Hawk, recognizing the importance of the Snake River Birds of Prey area.

LA - Brown Pelican - the state bird.

ME - A distant view of 2 flying birds, likely representing Gulls.

MN - Common Loon - the state bird.

OK - Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - the state bird

SC - Carolina Wren - the state bird.

SD - Ring-necked Pheasant - the state bird.

So, almost 20% of the states showed a bird of some sort.  Ten% depicted their official state birds.

--Steve Carr, UOS

MY MYSTERY BIRD AT FITZHUGH CEMETERY, LUCAS TX 10-09-2013

While visiting our son Mike in Allen, Texas, Francis and I drove to the nearby Fitzhugh Cemetery in Lucas. My plan was to photograph some of the old headstones since I collect headstone art. Fitzhugh Cemetery was established in the mid 1850s, predating the Civil War, so it's quite historic. I also wanted to see if any birds were around since cemeteries are some of the best places for birds. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my binoculars with me for our trip so bird ID'ing was nearly impossible. My camera battery was nearly dead as well. Wow, I was SO unprepared for the day!

Northern Mockingbird. Fitzhugh Cemetery, Lucas TX

One great bird turned out to be a Northern Mockingbird, vocalizing on the branch of a tree at the far end. Unlike Mockingbirds I've heard in Southern Utah, its song was very melodious, warbling and beautiful. I've never heard one sing like that before.

Blue-headed Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Fitzhugh Cemetery, Lucas, TX

The other bird that caught our attention had a long, long tail, blue head, and orange-washed belly, and was a total mystery. Managed to capture this photo of it before my battery completely gave out. The bird had a graceful, swooping flight when it suddenly took off because I came too close. Did not hear it vocalize. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher came to mind, but the coloring was so different from anything I was familiar with. On my return it was ID'd by several expert birders as a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, but with this blue color variation. It surely was exquisite!

We also drove past Lavon Lake which was so low that it has almost no water. The only birds to be seen were a large number of Great Egrets and a few DC Cormorants. Saw several Black Vultures circling in the sky. A hawk flew off from the top of a telephone pole that may have been a Red-shouldered Hawk. Lots of enormous spider webs glistened with dew along the sides of the road. A lovely morning for a drive even if it wasn't very birdy.

HOOKED ON BIRDING

 A few days ago I was looking through my bookshelf and ran across my Dad’s well-used copy of the birds of Finland. I was amazed to see a check mark next to every bird, 256 of them, in that little book. He had seen them all! As a young college student my Dad had dreamed of becoming a botanist and naturalist, but was never able to realize this ambition. His love of nature, however, remained with him to his dying day and he passed on his love of the outdoors to my sister and me.

I fondly remember summers as a little girl in Finnish Lapland, skipping happily along next to my Dad in the woods near our home and he paused frequently to point out plants and birds while we walked along. These were precious hours for me. The summers in Lapland were brief, the winters long and often severely cold. Each winter my Dad would make sure the bird feeders in our yard were stocked with seeds. Mother was a nature lover as well, and slabs of pork fat were nailed to a board to keep little bird bodies fueled against the cold. It was always traumatic for me as a child when one of our little feathered friends froze in the cold in spite of Mother and Dad's best efforts to keep them alive.

It is only fitting then that many years later my love for birds was rekindled by a wonderful Finnish friend, Tuula Rose. She had been bird watching for about a year when one cold February morning she finally coaxed me into going birding with her. Years had rolled by and I had totally forgotten my childhood nature lessons. My awareness of local birds started and stopped with ducks, pigeons and robins. That first morning I was introduced to 28 amazing species of birds found right here in our local area: Cinnamon Teal, Widgeon, Marsh Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Gadwall and a soaring Golden Eagle were among the birds I saw for the first time. I was impressed!

A few days later Tuula took me to Camelot Park in south Provo and we tramped through the muddy, snow-covered fields in search of a Great Horned Owl. Tuula knew where to look and she spotted the owl almost right away tucked inside a tangle of branches in a massive tree. It took me nearly ten frustrating minutes to locate the owl through my binoculars. But how rewarding it was when the owl suddenly woke up from its mid-morning nap, and stared right at me with those huge golden eyes. It was one of those amazing “Ahhhh” moments that rarely come along in a lifetime and I was totally hooked! I’ve been birding ever since and my Utah life list is now closing in on 300 birds.

Thanks Dad! Thanks Tuula! Thanks Utah County Birders! My life has been truly enriched.

Field Trip Report 

Wasatch County Field Trip, January 30, 1999

by Dennis Shirley
Saturday, January 30, 1999 dawned cold and clear as our group of birders headed for Wasatch County and Heber Valley. As we approached Deer Creer Dam, heavy fog set in and not sunshine greeted us as we entered the valley. But just as we approached the Interlaken development along the foothills north of Midway, the fog broke open and a bright sunny hillside awaited us. As we drove up to Jill and Alan Fuch’s home, our target apecies – Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch were circling in a flock over the homes. In short order, our group had great looks at the Cassins Finch and other winter birds at their feeder.

Wild Turkey, a large flock of Bohemian Waxsings, and a small herd of elk were seen at the Wasatch Mountain State Park. The pond at the visitor center had eight species of ducks on it, but nothing unusual.
By mid morning the fog around the reservoir was beginning to lift, but it was still misty enough to keep us from seeing very far across the surface. We did see Common Mergansers, but no Common Loons. A Northern Shrike was spotted from the highway near the entrance to Deer Creek State Park. Tricky maneuvering on this very narrow highway brought our vehicle precariously parked where no pull off existed. But it was worth it! To many this was a life bird!

We continued down Provo Canyon and detoured up the North Fork to Sundance and Georgene Butler’s mountain home. She has a great location for feeding birds and has been doing so for several years. We weren’t disappointed. Our list here included Steller’s Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mountaoin Chickadee, and Evening Grosbeak, our target bird.

Our list of 35 species seen for the day included four Code 4 uncommon winter birds – the target birds of the day. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good!

Participants: Robin Tuck, Julia Tuck, Kay Stone, Reed Stone, 3 BYU Coeds, Bonnie Williams, Alona Huffaker, Darlene Amott, Tuula Rose, Robert Brown, Bob Parsons, Leena Rogers, Maurice Stocks, Carol Jean Nelson, LeIla Ogden, Eric Huish, Lana Stocks and Dennis Shirley.

Species seen: Pied-billed Grebe American Wigeon Bufflehead Wild Turkey Downy Woodpecker Western Scrub-Jay

Mountain Chickadee Dark-eyed Junco Cassin’s Finch House Sparrow Great Blue Heron Ring-necked Duck Common Merganser

American Coot Northern Flicker Black-billed Magpie Red-breasted Nuthatch Brower’s Blackbird Pine Siskin Mallard

Lesser Scaup Bald Eagle Rock Dove Northern Shrike Black-capped Chickadee European Staring Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

American Goldfinch Gadwall Common Goldeneye Red-tailed Hawk Belted Kingfisher Steller’s Jay Bohemian Waxwing Evening Grosbeak

2004 BIRDING CHALLENGE AWARD BANQUET
Special note: Gratitude is expressed to Leena Rogers, Tuula Rose, and Milt Moody for arranging UCB’s Award Dinner in February. Over 70 people attended which may be the highest attendance ever at a UCB activity. Good food, good friends, great speaker (Dennis Shirley), great awards for the 2004 Bird Challenge winners, and great door prizes made for an outstanding evening. No 2005 challenge for Utah County Birders is in the offering, but expect such a contest in 2006. Any and all suggestions are welcomed.