Birdnet Hotline Highlights
Review Species Reported This Month:
Brown Pelican Utah Co.
Harris's Hawk Salt Lake Co.
Zone-tailed Hawk
Washington Co.
Least Tern Juab Co.
Eurasian Collared Dove
Garfield Co. Wayne Co.
Least Flycatcher Rich Co.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Iron
Co.
White-eyed Vireo Emery Co.
BOX ELDER COUNTY
Bridget Olson (21 June 2004) - Just thought folks might be interested to know that Lark Buntings (both males and females) have been sighted regularly (at least weekly) on the Refuge [Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge] since May 20th. Last observation was of a pair near the entrance gate to the Refuge near Perry, Utah on June 15th. What's going on with these birds? I thought they didn't breed in Utah this far west?
John F. Cavitt (5 June 2004) - This morning at ~9am a group of us saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. The bird was along the visitors loop about 100 yards north of the observation platform. It flew across the dike in front of us and perched in some salt cedar on the east side of the dike. It stayed out in open giving us some great "looks". This species isn't on the 1995 refuge checklist. Strange bird to see at the marsh!!
CACHE COUNTY
Kristin Purdy (25 June 2004) - ...Great Salt Lake Audubonners saw the king of glossy purple-black and his royal court today. Several pairs of Purple Martins have set up housekeeping in cavities in aspen trees on the La Plata ranch, just over the Weber/Cache County line in Cache County....
Dan Cooper (24 June 2004) - ...I found a singing White-eyed Vireo in Green River, UT on 24 June. ...2 mi. north of town along "Long St.", just after dog-leg turn in road, past parked white pick-up and red bulldozer on right. In riparian scrub right where irrigation canal (drain?) crosses rd.
Jens Munthe (29 June 2004) - [Eurasian Collared Dove] Seems like only yesterday Collared Doves in Washington were a big deal. In the past month I've seen them in Hatch, Escalante, Bicknell and Pioche NV.
Tom Clark - At 9;45am Jun 22, I observed a male Black-and-white Warbler in Capitol Reef National Park along the Notom-Bulfrog Road at the turn off to Cedar Mesa Campground. I was running a BBS route at the time and watched the bird foraging in the juniper trees adjacent to the road.
Dave Allen - While traveling from Salt Lake to Las Vegas on the 18th I saw a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at the rest stop just to the north of Parowan on I-15. It was flying around the west area out towards the field just past the large tree.
Bryan Shirley (20 June 2004) - Yesterday on our UT county birders field trip we located a Least Tern on Mona Res. At first it was flying around the North end of and then it flew in and landed just to the north of the Dam....
Pomera M. Fronce (15 June 2004) - I set out to find a Lark Bunting today, but I didn't find one. I found maybe 30. The largest concentration of them was on the Deseret Ranch Road, but I did continue to see them all along the road between Woodruff and Randolph. More Lark Buntings were at Bear River Meadows along with Black Terns, American Bittern, Eastern Kingbirds, Blue-winged Teal, Common Yellowthroat, Canvasbacks, Franklin's Gulls, Wilson's Phalaropes and Black-crowned Night Heron (to name a few).
Cal Robbins - On June 14 I was birding in southern Rich county. When I arrived at Sage creek junction. on a whim I turned north instead of south towards Randolph. About a mile up this road and just before it turned to gravel I saw a thrasher on a power line. I had seen a couple of sage thrashers earlier and I almost passed this one up. I did stop and examined this bird and it turned out to be a Bendire's Thrasher. I know this is significantly north of it excepted range but this bird was larger than the sage, lacked any distinguishable wing bars and had much less prominent breast markings. I do not have any reservation about the identification. I would like to know if others have marked this bird in northern Utah
Mark Stackhouse (10 June 2004) - Lest you think that the spring migration and the chance for any rarities is over, consider what we found on a private tour of Deseret Ranch today. At the "Big House"," a nice migrant trap in Rich County, we had Red-eyed Vireo, Least Flycatcher (both new for the ranch), Yellow-billed Cuckoo and American Redstart, along with many of the more usual birds....
Mark Stackhouse (9 June 2004) - As far as Lark Buntings are concerned, I have to agree with Bob Bond that this appears to be an exceptional year for them in Utah. I think that Deseret Ranch is the most regular location in Utah for Lark Buntings, and the numbers vary greatly from year to year. Usually there are at least a few, rarely there are none seen in a year, and sometimes they're surprisingly abundant. ...I just did a BBS yesterday, and I'm sure that I counted over 50 Lark Buntings, and the survey I did isn't the one which usually has the most buntings. ...On last Saturday's day trip to the ranch, one of the trip highlights (aside from the mama bear and her cub that we watched foraging in the aspens) was the large number of Lark Buntings. We probably saw over 100 all through the eastern part of the ranch. ...In addition to all the usual suspects, we saw ...a Horned Grebe in breeding plumage, and a Greater Scaup.
Bob Bond (8 June 2004) - The scattered reports of Lark Buntings may not portray the extent of the incursion this year by this bird. On our breeding bird survey done on wednesday, June 2 at Randolph we counted over 30 individuals and between stops saw an additional 20 to 30 birds. We saw 2 separate flocks of over 20 birds each, mixed males and females. Although we have seen this species on perhaps 30-40 % of our BBS at Randolph over the years, we have never seen anything approaching these numbers.
Trish Wlodarczyk (24 June 2004) - Yesterday morning... I looked in the backyard and saw a Very Large Hawk.... This was my first sight of a Harris's Hawk... I have not seen them in our area before. ( Draper- 119th South, 800 West) I did take several pictures...
Carol Davis (17 June 2004) - After cutting my lawn today in Taylorsville...I saw a bird drop over the fence and into my blue spruce...it was a White-throated Sparrow...
Colby Neuman (7 June 2004) - While running up to the Salt Lake Overlook (Desolation Trail) in Millcreek Canyon this evening, I heard a Winter Wren singing in a ravine about a half a mile down from the overlook. This is approximately 1.5 miles from the trailhead.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Lu Giddings (3 June 2004) - At about 11:45 a.m. today Dennis Shirley and I observed two male White-winged Crossbills keeping company with a flock of about 20 red crossbills. The birds were observed in the basin between miles 28 and 29 on the Mirror Lake highway. We had very good looks at both birds in excellent light, especially on one occasion as they perched beside each other in the top of a nearby conifer. The white wing bars were obvious and clearly seen on each bird, and on more than one occasion.
UINTAH COUNTY
Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 6/9/04. The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged Teal 2 ...Great Egret 2 ...American Bittern 3 ...Black Tern 5
Tim Avery (7 June 2004) - Spent the weekend at Pelican Lake and Ouray NWR. ...highlights were the 20+ American Bitterns at Leota Bottoms...
Lu Giddings (26 June 2004) - A Great Egret was seen at 2:30 p.m. today at Benjamin slough. The bird could only be seen by standing at the east end of the slough and looking west. This is easiest and safest from the "big bend" in 6400 South, the point at which the road makes a quick swing to the north, marked by a large yellow and black arrow sign.
Sheryl Serrano (11 June 2004) - I just got back from the Provo Airport Dike where I saw a Brown Pelican. It was swimming in the north east corner of the dike just at the corner where the pavement ends...
WASATCH COUNTY
Glenn B. Barlow - Alton and I went to Jordanelle last Wednesday, June 16th, in the morning, to see the American Redstart...When we visited the DWR folks who were mist netting and banding the birds they told us they had caught the American Redstart earlier in the morning and found that it had a band that was dated 1999. They told us they had caught it every year since then, including this year. My, quite a long-lived bird--probably a lucky one too...
utecoot (19 June 2004) - Wasatch Audubon visited the Jordanelle Reservoir today and sighted the male American Redstart at the place below the dam previously reported. We also spotted a nest with at least two young. There was no sign of a female. The male was keeping busy chasing off Yellow Warblers and such and, apparently, feeding the young.
Rick Fridell - I saw the Zone-tailed Hawk soaring over Lava Point (Zion NP, Washington Co.) on Thursday evening (6/24 at 7:00 p).
Larry Tripp (13 June 2004) - Today at Lytle Ranch there was a male Indigo Bunting near the pond. One of the male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks ( a first spring male ) was also still there in the orchard...
Larry Tripp (11 June 2004) - I went to Lytle Ranch today ...The only rare thing was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but there wasn't just one of them there were 3 of them! 2 males and a female. Although this year they don't seem to be very rare in the state. This makes 5 different ones that I've seen this Spring and I know that there have been others reported too.
Jens Munthe (29 June 2004) - [Eurasian Collared Dove] Seems like only yesterday Collared Doves in Washington were a big deal. In the past month I've seen them in Hatch, Escalante, Bicknell and Pioche NV.
WEBER COUNTY
Kristin Purdy (22 June 2004) - The Red-eyed Vireo is still singing loudly on the Weber River Trail (a.k.a. Riverdale Parkway) in Riverdale. I heard and saw it this morning around 9:00 at the north end of the first bridge. Earlier, it was not accessible but singing across the river between the first and second bridge. On June 11, I heard it at the second bridge. Looks like this vireo is calling Riverdale 'home' for the summer.
Mort Somer (10 June 2004) - As I write this a White-winged Dove is dozing in a cottonwood in our backyard in N. Ogden.
Kristin Purdy (5 June 2004) - [others]...and I saw a male Lark Bunting around the entrance to the private 'Rafter "S" Ranch' off UT 39 this morning around 9:00 and again this afternoon around 3:00. The Lark Bunting is classified as a rare summer resident on the 2004 Utah Field Checklist and was a new bird for all of us.