Birdnet Hotline Highlights
Compiled by Eric Huish

Review Species Reported This Month:
     Red-throated Loon  Cache Co. 
     Red-necked Grebe  Cache Co. 
     California Condor  Washington Co.
     Zone-tailed Hawk  Washington Co.
     Painted Redstart  Washington Co.

BOX ELDER COUNTY 

Edward Conrad -  (Thu, 24 Apr 2003)   Along the drive to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge there were 3 Whimbrel just opposite of the Chesapeake Duck Club trailer which is a short distance past the first river crossing. They were feeding in some long grass along with a couple of Long-billed Curlews and there were around 500 Marbled Godwits just a few feet off the road nearby. In the refuge itself I saw a Common Tern along the northern dike plus 2 more pairs of Blue-winged Teal.

Bryan Shirley - (Tue, 22 Apr 2003)  ... We also saw a beautiful Horned Grebe at Mantua.

Julie VanMoorhem - (April 06, 2003) ... We saw about 25 Long-billed Curlews on the road into the refuge. A Short-eared Owl gave us up close looks as it "clapped" its way over the fields looking for morsels to eat. Franklin's Gulls were present in large numbers and many showed a bright, rosy pink chest...

Bryan Shirley - (Tue, 22 Apr 2003)  This morning my dad (dennis shirley), Milt Moody, & I went to Hyrum res. to look for the red-necked grebe previously reported. We didn't ever find it, but one of the first birds we did see there was a Red-throated Loon. It was in the middle of the lake and we saw it from the road above the beach area...

Ron Ryel - ...A Red-necked Grebe was seen on Hyrum Reservoir on Sunday, April 20.  The bird was mostly in breeding plumage and was seen from the overlook above the swimming beach. It was seen in the early afternoon and later by Sue and Dave Drown. Also at the reservoir were about 100 Common Loons and an Osprey.

DAVIS COUNTY 

Tony Jones - (Sat, 19 Apr 2003)    ... This morning at about 9:00 I found two Dunlin with a flock of Sanderling on the Antelope Island Causeway. They were on the North side of the road about .1 miles from mile marker 3...

Pomera Fronce - (Wed, 16 Apr 2003)  I ran into Martha Ann in the Visitors' Center at Antelope Island today and am I ever glad I did. She told me she saw 2 Black-bellied Plovers on the north side of the causeway this morning. After driving up and down a couple of times, I finally located one of the plovers on the south side in the mud flats by the first bridge. Also along the causeway were 4 Western Sandpipers mixed in with a flock of about 30 Sanderlings. Bob's Burrowing Owl was right where he was supposed to be and the Barn Owl was in the barn.  At Glover Ponds I saw 5 geese feeding on the western most banks of the water (toward the north end of the ponds). I believe they were Ross' Geese as their bills seemed stubby and I could not see any of the rust coloring on the face or head. I will look for someone to post a correction if this is not right.

GRAND COUNTY 

Joel and Kathy Beyer - ...Sunday morning, 4/13, a Blue-winged Teal at Matheson Preserve (Moab), seen from the wildlife blind.

SALT LAKE COUNTY 

Mark Stackhouse -  ... Second, and I thought equally surprising, was an adult male Hooded Oriole which we saw in the upper Avenues area of Salt Lake City at about 11:30 am yesterday, April 29. The bird was calling and moving around in the upper parts of several large trees in the yards of homes on both the north and south sides of 18th Avenue just west of the junction with Terrace Hills Dr. I can't recall any other Salt Lake County records for this species.

Sparky Stensaas-the Minnesota kid -  (Sunday April 20, Mill Creek Canyon) 1 Northern Pygmy Owl (singing from 5pm til I left at 7:30pm)  1 mile up Desolation Trail (could hear him singing from low down but finally got at eye-level with him one mile up or so where the junipers start). He was in the tip-tops of two firs).

Jack Holley - (Wed, 16 Apr 2003)  This morning while birding along the Jordan River behind the Power Sub-station, a Osprey soared over the river heading north. It was about 3100 South in Salt Lake City and around 8am...

SAN JUAN COUNTY 

chrosh@earthlink.net - (Tuesday, April 22, 2003)  Calling Mexican Spotted Owl @ Needles Outpost campsite. 9:30pm April 20. Needles Outpost is a privately owned campsite and store directly outside of the entrance of Canyonlands NP, Needles District. Bird heard for about 5 minutes. Left early the following morning so was not able to check at nearby Canyonlands NP visitor's center to see if anybody else has heard it.

TOOELE COUNTY 

KC Childs - (Thu, 17 Apr 2003)   I spent the day birding Tooele County today. My first stop at James W. Fitzgerald was amazing. ... There was a Horned Grebe also Red Breasted Mergansers, Canvasbacks and winter ducks like Goldeneye and Bufflehead still hanging around. There were Willets, Black Necked Stilts, Avocets and Greater Yellowlegs there as well. I saw my first Lark Sparrows of the year in Skull Valley. At Rush Lake there was Marbled Godwits and a Cattle Egret out in the lake. There was a Swainsons Hawk in Erda.

UTAH COUNTY 

Bryan Shirley - (Tue, 29 Apr 2003)  This morning my dad & I saw a Solitary Sandpiper in the Benjamin Slough (along the road to Lincoln Beach). It was in the western end of the slough near the road, but there was an immature Peregrine Falcon harrassing all the birds and so they were moving around a lot. There are also lots of Yellowlegs, mostly Lesser, and other shorebirds around too. Also at Lincoln Beach there are 3 Semipalmated Plovers.

Mark Stackhouse - (Thu, 13 Mar 2003)  ...Anyway, we did see a couple of good birds around the Provo Airport dike road - several Sage Sparrows along the west side, about 300 meters north of the southwest corner. ... We also saw an immature Northern Goshawk in the trees at the eastern corner of where the south extension heads south - it flew off to the east, and was last seen soaring over Springville.

Christian Peay - (Sat, 19 Apr 2003)   Yesteday I spotted a White-Winged Dove near 600 North and 800 West In Orem.

Bryan Shirley - (Thu, 17 Apr 2003)   There is a Great Egret in the moat along the Provo airport dike (I heard about it from A. Thygerson). I saw it this morning at the N.W.corner of the extension. There were also 3 Red-breasted Mergansers there too. At the S.W. corner there were 2 Bonapartes Gulls in the moat and Franklin's flying over the lake. Quite a few Vesper Sparrows and 1 Lincoln's Sparrow as well.

Joel and Kathy Beyer - On Saturday morning, 4/12, a breeding plumaged Harris's Sparrow, singing, about 1/4 mile in from the beginning of the Provo Airport dike road (paved section, northeast end).

Utah Birds - (Mon, 7 Apr 2003) KC Childs reported a Blue-winged Teal among the other teal at the Lindon Boat Harbor (Utah Co. near the Geneva Steel Plant).

WASHINGTON COUNTY 

Rick Fridell - (Wed, 30 Apr 2003) ...This evening (4/30) I saw a Zone-tailed Hawk at Silver Reef (Washington County, UT). It was flying along the sandstone cliffs immediately after crossing Leeds Creek on the road leading to Forest Service property (and on to the Danish Ranch or Oak Grove Campground). It really is incredible how similar they are to Turkey Vultures (in flight and appearance). I saw it as I was driving and almost dismissed it as another Turkey Vulture, but
fortunately I decided to pull over and take a closer look...

Larry Tripp - (Thu, 17 Apr 2003)   Tonight at about 7:00 PM I saw a Bendire's Thrasher Just NW of Sand Hollow Res. There was a group of 4 or 5 Sage Thrashers, a few White-crowned and a Lark sparrow in the same area that the bird seemed to be with...

John Cavitt - (Sunday, April 13 - ~1:30pm on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive)   A trip down to Zion NP resulted in a spectacular sighting of a California
Condor!!! According to park officials there have been 4 Condors in the park for the last several days feeding on a deer carcass. The carcass is located on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive near the Wheeping Rock bus stop...

Larry Tripp - (Sun, 13 Apr 2003)  More Springtime color was in So.Utah over the weekend. Scott's, Hooded and Bullock's Orioles, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow Warbler and a couple of Costa's Hummingbirds. Also I saw 3 Black-hawks soaring together at Lytle on Sat which was very interesting.

Bob Showler - Kevin Shipp, a visiting birder from Indiana, reported a Painted Redstart along the Weeping Rock Trail in Zion National Park at 4:00 p.m.,
April 3...