Review Species Reported This Month:
    Cackling Goose  Salt Lake Co. 
     Iceland Gull (?)   Salt Lake Co.
     Lesser Black-backed Gull  Davis Co.
     Lesser Black-backed Gull (3)  Salt Lake Co.
     Snowy Owl   Box Elder Co.
     Gilded Flicker   Washington Co.
     McCown's Longspur  Box Elder Co. 

Kristin Purdy (24 Jan 2010) - Is there a cure for the spinning eyeballs, baldness from tearing the hair out in clumps, and the migraine that come from sifting through thousands of Canada Geese and Mallards to find what I believe were four CACKLING (taverneri) GEESE?!?
...The single Snow Goose and the two Ross's Geese were surprises; in fact, I ignored the white geese for a long time, figuring they were just domestics. When I paid attention, Doh!

Tim Avery (23 Jan 2010) - [Gray Partridge]  Just west of where the longspurs were seen. They were north of the road near the corrals with the cattle. Found by Eric Huish.

Jack Binch (17 Jan 2010) - I chased the Lapland Longspurs that the Sommerfelds reported without success, BUT, I did find a McCown's Longspur near the trailer house - gun club -
where Kris found the flock of American Tree Sparrows. Which are still there.

Cindy Sommerfeld (16 Jan 2010) - Today We headed north hoping to add to our 2010 year list. We stopped at Bear River first. 2.8 miles past the Visitors Center we found a flock of at least 40 Horned Larks with two Lapland Longspurs tagging along. Next we headed to Howell. We did find Sharp-tailed Grouse just at the south
end of town.

Bill Fenimore (13 Jan 2010) - ...Brett Prettyman, Outdoor Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune told me that a Snowy Owl sighting had been reported. He gave me the contact information of the fellow who reported the Snowy Owl. I just finished talking to the fellow who saw the owl.
He told me that he is originally from Minnesota and has seen Snowy Owls there. I had asked him if it might have been a Barn Owl. He did not realize that it was a rare bird for Utah or he would have spoke up earlier. The sighting was on the Perry Unit of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. He said that he saw the bird sitting on the ground on a flat that is just south of the Waste Water Treatment plant for Perry. The sighting was approximately 3 weeks ago.

CACHE COUNTY

Craig Fosdick (3 Jan 2010) - I snowshoed about 2 1/4 miles up Dry Canyon (Logan) today, and was fortunate
enough to find a Northern Pygmy-Owl talking at ~6500'.

Buck Russell (1 Jan 2010) - ... I saw a couple of Hooded Mergansers at the 20/20 pond earlier today. Other birds at the pond included Canvasback ducks, Norhern Shovler, American Wigenons, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked ducks, but no Wood Ducks. At the first dam on the Logan River there were lots of Common & Barrow's Goldeneyes. At the dam there was also a pair of Common Mergansers.

Craig Fosdick (1 Jan 2010) - Ryan O'Donnell and I birded Cache County this afternoon with relatively little excitment. Best bird was a MERLIN on 7800 N in Amalga. Second-best bird was?...perhaps the PRAIRIE FALCON sitting on a power pole north of Smithfield along US 91.

DAVIS COUNTY

Joel and Kathy Beyer (2 Jan 2010) - Late this afternoon we managed to spot both a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Mew Gull, amongst the 3000 or so gulls at Farmington Bay WMA. Both were adults (maybe the LBBG was the same one we saw earlier at Decker Lake? It looked the same.)

SALT LAKE COUNTY

Tim Avery (4 Jan 2010) - Today I had most of the afternoon off so I took advantage of the sun and did a little birding. I started on the Jordan River at 12600 South where I found a single LONG-EARED OWL in a Russian Olive patch about 1/2 mile south of 12600 South... I decided to head towards Decker Lake, stopping at Lake Park, where I probably scanned through 2,000 Canada Geese hoping to find the Greater White-fronted that continues to elude me through 3 stops there this year. During the scanning I was able to pick out 2 CACKLING GEESE again...Heading out to 7200 West and up towards I-80 there was a lone MERLIN perched on a power pole...Lastly I swung through the International Center where there was a NORTHERN SHRIKE just west of Hunter-Douglas on the Frontage Road where Jeff Bilsky and I had one last week.

Tim Avery (9 Jan 2010) - The 1st winter Western Gull and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull were at Decker lake with "schmorgesborg" (in the words of Jeff Bilsky) of around 3500 gulls. Very few ring-billed gulls, and only a couple herrings mixed in. No thayer's...

Keeli Marvel (7 Jan 2010) - Around noon today there was a Greater White-fronted goose and a Mandarin duck (yes Mandarin!) mixed in with a couple hundred Canada geese feeding on the northeast end of Nibley Golf Course (in the Sugarhouse area about 2700 S. 700 E.).

Tim Avery (2 Jan 2010) - [Lesser Black-backed Gull] On west pond.

Tim Avery (1 Jan 2010) - Jeff Bilsky and I headed to Lee Kay Ponds this morning for gulls. There were none at Lee Kay so we headed to Decker Lake where there were over 1500 gulls on the lake. Highlights:  1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulll; 1 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull; 4 Thayer's Gull; 1 very pale gull with barred tertials. Could have been the dark end of a Kumlien's ICELAND Gull but was pretty far out.
Fly by Merlin and Peregrine Falcon as well as flyover American Pipit and 2 CACKLING GEESE on the pond.

SUMMIT COUNTY

Eric Huish (9 Jan 2010) - On Lower River Road in Francis (summit co.) we found a Pine Grosbeak in a small fir tree near a house with lots of bird activity about 0.7 miles after turning off highway 32.

UINTAH COUNTY

Brian Maxfield (26 Jan 26 2010) - I located a RUSTY BLACKBIRD in the Pariette Wetlands in Uintah County on 1/26/2010. The bird was observed just below the dam on the Redhead  Pond. I was foraging along the only open water along the stream. It stuck around for a few minute before disappearing into a tamarisk thicket. Of course I did not have my camera with me that day.

UTAH COUNTY 

Kay Stone (22 Jan 2010) - Kay Stone called to report a Varied Thrush on the Jordan River Parkway North of the Model Airfield (Lehi) this morning (Jan 22).

Dennis Shirley (19 Jan 2010) - Just saw my first good yard bird of the new year - NORTHERN GOSHAWK. It was an immature [female I believe], and was perched near my backyard feeders, watching all the activity. It hung around for about 20 minutes, then got tired of being harassed by four magpies and a flock of chickadees. It dropped down the ridge into Loafer Canyon, but could very well stick around for a while. Heaven help the pheasants and quail. Come to think of it they haven't been around much the last couple of days. I wonder why!!!

Eric Huish (6 Jan 2010) - Drove the Provo Airport Dike and Utah Lake State Park with Ned Bixler this afternoon/evening...We also saw a couple Long-eared Owls. One on the dike and one at the State Park.

Eric Huish (4 Jan 2010) - I saw a beautiful Male Yellow-shafted Flicker at Bicentennial Park this afternoon. It was in the woods on the back side of the boardwalk. There was also a Red-shafted there... At home I saw the Screech-Owl poking its head out of the nest box. Watching the deer below it.

WASATCH COUNTY 

Eric Huish (9 Jan 2010) - KC Childs and I birded Wasatch County today (Jan 9th) from about 8:30 a.m. to noon.  Highlights were - Along 222 in the Wallsberg Area we saw Wild Turkey, 6 Bald Eagles, 4 Lewis's Woodpeckers and an American Tree Sparrow plus the usuals.
We scoped through very distant waterfowl from an overlook on highway 32 high above the Jordanelle Dam . There was a probable Cackling Goose with a large group of Canadas and a few Hooded Mergansers on the far side of the reservoir. Barely identifiable...

WASHINGTON COUNTY 

Tim Avery (18 Jan 18 2010) - The Yellow-billed Loon is still present at Quail Creek State Park in
Washington County as reported by Rick Fridell. At least one Anna's Hummingbird is in Snow Canyon visiting the feeders at the Camp Host Site. The bird is a male and was displaying. And the previously reported Eurasian Wigeon was at Sky Mountain golf Course, although I believe it is actually a hybrid. It's very subtle, but there are green streaks in the back of the head.

Nathan Fisher (15 Jan 2010) - On the 14th I was birding at Mathis Park in St. George, and the area was loaded with birds.... Near the beginning of my session I was watching a flicker perched in a tree across the river and noticed no red on his face or head. I couldn't see his underwing at all. I waited while watching other birds. When he did take off I wasn't exactly watching him, but did see him before he landed out of sight. I swore that he had the yellow underwing, and made my notation of Gilded Flicker as there was no red nape indicative of the yellow shafted. I continued to watch for an hour or so. I started to doubt my observation as time continued and was about to cross off the gilded flicker off the list when he flew in front of me (about 20 feet away) and landed a bit further away. Again I saw the obvious yellow underwing, and could now, again, verify that there was no red nape. There is no doubt that I saw the gilded flicker.