Review Species Reported this month:
   Mexican Mallard   Salt Lake Co.
   Red-necked Grebe  Washington Co.
   Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Washington Co.

BOX ELDER COUNTY

Birdtalk@utahbirds.org (24 Feb 2014) - Approx. 5000 white geese (?Snow Geese) in West Corinne, Box Elder, County

Mike Fish (17 Feb 204) - I’ve seen (and heard) several waves of Tundra Swans fly over the ATK mountain (Promontory Area) this morning. The first group I saw just after day break had 22 Tundra Swans and a single Snow Goose mixed in with the Swans. The Snow Goose simply occupied one of the draft links towards the back of the “V” as they all flew along towards the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge...

Bryant Olsen (10 Feb 2014) - On today's GSL Audubon field trip, we found a sizable group of SNOW BUNTINGS just north of the Golden Spike visitor center. They were along that dirt road that goes west where the main road curves south toward the visitor center, just a few hundred yards west from that intersection mixed in with a large group of Horned Larks. They were on the side of the road, or in the road, and even landed on the power lines right above our heads giving us great looks. My maximum count was 8 together at 1 time, but there could have been more of them. Best look at that species I've ever had. Also had a Northern Shrike nearby. OK numbers of raptors, but not as many as I usually see around there. Salt Creek WMA had good # of Bald Eagles, and a few dozen Tundra Swans.

Mike Hearell (6 Feb 2014) -  On Saturday Taylor A. And I had a pair of Sharp-tailed Grouse north of Blue Creek. Follow 18000 W (I believe) all the way to where it meets up with the frontage road against the freeway and they were in the top of a tree by the silos.

 
DAVIS COUNTY

Ann Neville (18 Feb 2014) - Heard at least 2 Killdeer this morning from my bed (yes I sleep with the window open) this morning around 6:45. I live just west of the Farmington Fair park.

Bernie Sloan (11 Feb 2014) - One of my sons sent me a grainy iPhone photo that he took on his way home north along I-15 from West Jordan towards Bountiful. He was sure they were American White Pelicans, numbering about 50+ birds, by my count from the photo.

Cindy Sommerfeld (98 Feb 2014) - I thought last months survey was slim, this one is even worse. The strong winds didn't help. FYI Garr Ranch is a sheet of ice, even under the trees. Species total: 21. [highlilghts] ... Rough-legged Hawk,... Peregrine Falcon,...Great Horned Owl,...

Bernie Sloan (4 Feb 2014) - Heading south Saturday on Orchard Drive in Bountiful, I saw the most American Crows I've ever seen at one time in Utah. North and south of St. Olaf's Church. Three different flocks...
   --Three times in the past several days a Bald Eagle has been soaring over Salt Lake City, moving in a northerly direction north of 2100 S and State towards downtown. Might have been the same eagle…who knows.

 
MORGAN COUNTY

Dave Hanscom (28 Feb 2014) - A friend and I were planning to meet in Eden to go skiing in North Fork Park in the Ogden Valley. After reading Brian Maxfield's report of Sage Grouse in the Uinta Basin, I decided to stop on my way and see if there was any activity at the Henefer lek. I arrived there with the sun at 7:30, so the strutting was over, but several males were hanging out in the sage. One was even kind enough to be on the Summit County side of the line. :-)

Edson Leite (18 Feb 2014) - went up to Echo, Utah today at 10:30AM. The pair of Bald Eagles were on the nest moving sticks and clumps of grassy material around the nest.

Dave Hanscom (14 Feb 2014) - I drove up the road from Henefer to East Canyon on Sunday in search of winter birds. No Snow Buntings or Larkspurs, but a Northern Shrike, which was nice.

    
SALT LAKE COUNTY 

Norm Jenson (23 Feb 2014) - [Lee Kay Ponds] - Two Ross's Geese at Lee Kay near the Gazebo, though they flew just as I was leaving and I didn't see where they went.

Norm Jenson (20 Feb 2014) - I was pointing out a Ruby-crowned Kinglet to Gail this morning, rather I was pointing to where it had been, when a flock of Cedar Waxwings visited. We had 13 species in the backyard at one time, where usually we only have 6 or 7. What a great morning.

Norm Jenson (15 Feb 2014) - Glaucous Gull at Lee Kay Ponds. Pullout west of the gazebo.

Rich Young (14 Feb 2014) - I’ve just gotten around to posting a backlog of birds from my Salt Lake valley stomping grounds, the Jordan River corridor, Big Cottonwood park, and especially some accommodating 1st Spring male Common Mergansers (Willow Pond, Murray) that provided spectacular (to me) fishing results!

Steven T (12 Feb 2014) - The SLC Peregrine Falcons appear to be back at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. I have seen a single bird several times over the past few weeks and two birds yesterday.

Norm Jenson (10 Feb 2014) -  Cinnamon Teal at Lake Park.

Bryant Olsen (9 Feb 2014) - This morning around 9am I found an apparent MEXICAN MALLARD drake at Decker Lake. Initially it was on the grass grazing with many Mallards and Canada Geese... All the recent thawing has opened up a lot of area, and the gulls have spread out into the muddy fields. Among several hundred Canada Geese, I did have a nice flyover CACKLING GOOSE though. Then on to Lee Kay, where I found a 3rd winter GLAUCOUS GULL on the thawing ice southwest of the gazebo...

Matthew Wallace (7 Feb 2014) - I see from 2 to 5 American Crows on a regular basis here (3600 South 2550 East - East Millcreek)...Sometimes they are joined by one or two others, and sometimes I see some fairly large groups of perhaps 10 to 20+ or so.

Norm Jenson (7 Feb 2014) - [Sandy] - Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Deedee O'Brien (5 Feb 1014) - Just saw 4 American Crows in downtown Holladay (4800 S 2300 E) for first time ever!

Jack Binch (2 Feb 2014) - Harris's Sparrow at Lee Kay Ponds

  
SUMMIT COUNTY

Bryan Shirley (10 Feb 2014) -  Yesterday 6 birders braved the weather and ended up with a decent day in Wasatch County & Summit County. ...The wind and rain made birding slow overall ...Since it was still early we decided to hit Summit County for about an hour before heading home. We drove along the upper Provo River and saw a couple of Dippers, but the best bird there was a Northern Shrike near Francis.

Bryant Olsen (7 Feb 2014) - Yesterday started out with a pair of Wood Ducks at the Park City Golf
Course. Thanks to Nancy Matro for informing me of those. That's a hard bird to find in Summit County.

     
UTAH COUNTY

Clark Monson (23 Feb 2014)- I took my daughter up Provo Canyon tonight at 9:00 to call for Saw-whets. We first went up to Aspen Grove, but there were vehicles and people all over the place. I should have expected this on a mild Friday night. We drove back down to Provo Canyon and up South Fork. I tried a couple of my regular spots with no luck, but we did hear a Great Horned Owl off in the distance. We drove another quarter mile up the canyon, got out of the car, and were treated to two Horned Owls calling back and forth for several minutes. We then went further up the canyon, almost to the Trefoil Girl's Camp. I did my best Saw-whet Owl call for several minutes and finally got a distant reply. A few more calls by me and the owl came much closer. ...We saw a great shooting star and called it a successful night.

Jeff Cooper (17 Feb 2014) - I drove over Soldier Pass Road south of Saratoga Springs today. I was initially entertained by a nomadic flock of Bushtits that passed by me on two occasions...

Jeff Cooper (16 Feb 2014) - This may not seem like much of a sighting to those in Salt Lake and Davis Counties, but I've been birding Highland Glen Park in Utah County since February of 2010 (four years this month). I saw an American Crow in the park for the first time about two weeks ago and then saw two fly over the park this evening...

Jeff Cooper (11 Feb 2014) - I just saw 5 D-C Cormorants on the bank of Mill Pond while driving on I-15 at exit 278 near Lehi.

Eric Huish (8 Feb 2014)- I've been taking a break from birding this past month. This morning (Feb 7) I filled the feeders for the first time in a couple of weeks. I lifted the blinds and sat at the table. There were lots of birds at the feeders. Then a White-throated Sparrow popped out. Very fun. Tan striped morph.

Jeff Cooper (8 Feb 2014) - I got home (Pleasant Grove) from work this evening and heard lots of birds chirping in the backyard. I walked into the house and looked out the back door. I noticed a Cassiar Junco foraging below the feeders. It was a male which looked much like a Slate-colored Junco with its gray sides, but the dark hood contrasted with the darkish brown back. I get them off and on during the winter months. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet flew straight toward me from across the yard and landed on the stalk of a dead flower below me. It looked up at me and then flew away. I also heard then saw two Cedar Waxwings as they flew into a flowering pear tree to eat some fruit.

   
TOOELE COUNTY

Sylvia Gray (28 Feb 2014) - The Western Meadowlarks are singing on Stansbury Island. Bill and I also heard Chukars and a Rock Wren. Birds seen were: a beautiful male Mountain Bluebird, Northern Shrike, Northern Harrier, Raven and Junco. It was a lovely day to be out there.

 
WASATCH COUNTY

Bryan Shirley (10 Feb 2014) - Yesterday 6 birders braved the weather and ended up with a decent day in Wasatch County & Summit County. We started out at the mouth of the Provo River in Deer Creek Reservoir. There were several hundred Canada Geese, thousands of ducks, and a few Mute and Tundra Swans. The waterfowl was being kept pretty busy by a few Bald Eagles that kept harassing them. We weren't able to find any rare ducks, but in total found 15 species or waterfowl there. The wind and rain made birding slow overall, but we made a few stops around the outskirts of town and had our 29 species for the county before long.

 
WASHINGTON COUNTY

Rick Fridell (9 Feb 2014) - I spent the day (2/8) birding around Washington County chasing lingering winter vagrants and uncovered a few new ones. The Kolob Terrace Road was still passable up to Kolob Meadows, albeit snowy north of the Wildcat TH area. There weren't many birds around up there, although I did see 3 Acorn Woodpeckers in an aspen copse near Whispering Pines. Other highlights around Washington Co. included:
    -- A(nother!) Red-shouldered Hawk in Virgin, just east of Town Hall.
    --I did not see the Red-shouldered Hawk in the orchard in Hurricane (along 920 West) although I saw the lingering Lewis's Woodpecker and an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
   --The White-winged Scoter, Barrow's Goldeneye, and Red-necked Grebe were all still present at Sand Hollow State Park.
   --The 2 Neotropic Cormorants are back at Razor Ridge Pond; these guys are getting very cooperative.
   --Washington Fields hosted a large flock of Canada Geese along with 5-6 Snow Geese, 4-5 Cackling Geese, and 3 Greater White-fronted Geese.
   --The lingering Harris's Sparrow was foraging with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows on the point across the pond at Tonaquint Park, St. George.
   --Now that the milo field at Lytle Ranch has been mowed, the large Zonotrichia sparrow flock is spreading out and moving around, however, there were still 2 White-throated Sparrows and a Golden-crowned Sparrow along the edge of the pomegranate grove.
   --I was not able to relocate the Winter Wren at either Quail Creek State Park or the Santa Clara River, although I didn't spend much time at either location.

Eric Peterson (2 Feb 2014) - Decided to get out of the snow and pollution and head to St. George with a co-worker for a couple of days...We initially decided to hit Bryce Canyon and Zion on the way down since he had never seen either. We cut across Highway 20 to get to 89 and the snow got worse and worse. Along the way on 20 we saw a small flock of Bushtits and Horned Larks. We decided to give up on getting to Bryce and along 89 we saw lots of Bald and Golden Eagles. We saw some Wild Turkeys along the way also. I began to tell him about how magnificent Zion's rock walls. As we entered the park the clouds and fog was so bad you couldn't tell there was any great walls at all. We just drove through Zion and headed to Tonaquent Park where the sun was out and nice. We re-found the Harris's Sparrow with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows and the Mountain Chickadees hanging around. We then headed to Snow Canyon to see what we could find there. We found a very cooperative Canyon Wren and a Red-naped Sapsucker.
   --The next morning we headed to Lytle Ranch. It was pretty dead there. We found an Anna's Hummingbird hanging around and a few of the usual suspects. We were then on our way home but along the way stopped at Pine Valley Campgrounds and found some Pygmy Nuthatches. Along Highway 18 outside of Veyo there were huge flocks of Mountain Bluebirds. They were hard to photograph as the cars scream by on that road. The highlight of the trip for me was along highway 56 in the pinyon there was a huge flock of over 100 Pinyon Jays moving around. They were not a easy bunch of birds to photograph as they kept flushing when a car drove by and would move 200 yards in any direction.

Rick Fridell (2 Feb 2014) - This morning (2/2) I observed a Red-shouldered Hawk in a pecan orchard in Hurricane, Washington Co., UT. The orchard is along 920 West, southwest of the intersection of 650 South... The hawk was near the north end of the orchard.
   --I also stopped by Sand Hollow State Park this morning and observed the lingering Barrow's Goldeneye, White-winged Scoter, and Red-necked Grebe. There was also an adult Northern Shrike along the road below the west dam.
   --The SR-9 (Hurricane) sewer ponds had a nice flock of geese (remaining since Friday 1/31); along with a couple hundred Canada Geese, were 4-5 Snow Geese, 2 Greater White-fronted Geese, and a Cackling Goose.

 
WEBER COUNTY

Dave Hanscom (28 Feb 2014) - A friend and I were planning to meet in Eden to go skiing in North Fork Park in the Ogden Valley. Stopped at Powder Mountain to check out the Rosy Finches.  We found five at the feeder (which was full of seed), all Gray-crowned. Skiing at North Fork Park was uneventful, but a Lewis' Woodpecker was seen on the upper access road as we left.

Mike Hearell (28 Feb 2014) - This evening I ran out to the North Entrance to Ogden Bay WMA to see if I could get a photo of the presumed Lesser Black-backed Gull (2nd cycle) I thought I found yesterday. While trying to take a photo of this bird the previous day, my camera notified me of the lack of a memory card in its slot. Although I wasn't able to locate this bird again, I did find an adult LBBG and a 2nd cycle Western Gull. Both of these are first Weber County records! ... Also had a 2nd county Thayer's Gull. Also had a lot of Herring Gulls, Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, American White Pelicans and Bald Eagles.

Mike Hearell (23 Feb 2014) -  I took a hike through the Ogden Bay Bird Refuge at dawn this morning and saw dozens of Bald Eagles. A few of them on the ice were quite vocal. Taylor Abbott and I birded west Weber County this morning to look through the large numbers of Canada Geese that have been showing up over the last few days. First we found two of the larger subspecies of CACKLING GEESE mixed in with a small flock of Lessers on 700 N between 5900 W and 6700 W. About 30 minutes later we found a much smaller variety of Cackling Goose (minima) just south of the feedlot on 8300 W.