Review Species Reported this month:
   Least Bittern   Uintah Co.
   Baltimore Oriole   Weber Co.

DAVIS COUNTY

Cindy Sommerfeld (1 Jun 2014) - Saw some new arrivals today including, Least Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Common Nighthawk and Eastern Kingbird. Our Species total was 61. Here's the list:
   --Canada Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Chukar, Ring-necked Pheasant, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Virginia Rail, Sandhill Crane, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, American Avocet, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, Wilson's Snipe, Franklin's Gull, California Gull, Forster's Tern, Mourning Dove, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, Common Nighthawk, Least Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Warbling Vireo, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Barn Swallow, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Sage Thrasher, European Starling, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's Warbler, Lark Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, House Sparrow
 

RICH COUNTY

Paul Higgins (8 Jun 2014) - [Randolph, Bear River Wetlands] - Vesper Sparrow, American Bittern, Black Tern.

Paul Higgins (1 Jun 2014) - Yesterday, I took a trip over Monte Cristo Mountains and into Rich County. Monte Cristo Campground was very birdy, with some snow still on roadways. Curtis Creek had campers right where the Purple Martin's nest, I didn't stop. (Don't know if they have arrived yet.)
   --Near Woodruff, both Western and Eastern Kingbirds have arrived. A few Western Tanager's still around, waiting to head into the mountains. Farmers have turned irrigation water into the fields.
   --Near Randolph (Bear River Wetlands) water has been turned in and the fields are being flooded. Arrived around 11:00 am and still located 3 American Bitterns, a good time to look for bittern's because the cover has just started to grow. Now the water is turned in, it will develop very quickly. Some waterfowl: Redheads, Canvasback, Pintail, etc.
   --There appears to be a good (quite large) colony of breeding Black Terns, just beginning housekeeping. Go one mile North of Randolph, turn onto Crawford Mountain Road (going east) drive east until you cross a large concrete bridge. Continue east another 300 yards, or so, watching to the south. You'll see them. They were breeding not too far from the road. Watch all along the Crawford Mountain Road for bitterns. Watch especially close right along the road. I flushed one because I didn't see it standing right along the roadway. It you continue on Crawford Mountain Roadway into the Crawford Mountain Mountains it is a great place to bird. I love to bird the "wetlands".
 

SALT LAKE COUNTY 

Rich Young (19 Jun 2014) - Yesterday and today, the sights and sounds of adult Bullock’s Orioles has been remarkable as they work to keep track of their young. The area I’ve encountered them ranges from 50th to 54th South, adjacent to the Jordan River on the Murray/Jordan River Parkway.

Norm Jenson (9 Jun 2014) - [Butterfield Canyon]- Northern Pygmy Owl.

Rich Young (5 Jun 2014) - The backwater pond adjacent to the Murray School District’s “Kennecott Nature Center Classroom” (approx 50th south) has been teeming with Spotted Sandpipers in recent days.

Norm Jenson (3 Jun 2014) - [Little Dell Reservoir] - A Gray Catbird. How cool is that?
 

SAN JUAN COUNTY

Keeli Marvel (17 Jun 29014) - Four UCBers made the trip down to Grand and San Juan counties last weekend for our 2014 birding challenge.  Friday was a tough sell with warm temps and gusty winds.  We started by picking up a couple of species at the rest stop just before Crescent Junction.  Then we made a quick trip into Arches NP where we picked up two juvenile Black-throated sparrows. We birded briefly along the Colorado River where the hwy crosses it coming into town and picked up a couple more species. 
   --From there we went to the Matheson Preserve and birded both north and south sides of the preserve, picking up several more species including Ash-throated Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Plumbeous Vireo, and Blue-gray gnatcatcher.  We spent the late afternoon on the east side of Moab, picking up species one by one.  There were Wood Ducks and domestic ducks and geese at the Old City Park pond.  In the neighborhoods around the golf course on the east side we found a Scrub Jay and some White-throated Swifts, and then we finished up with a flyover Great Blue Heron while eating dinner.
   --On Saturday, we started the morning off at Ken's Lake just southeast of Moab in San Juan County.  On the way in to the lake we picked up Lark Sparrows and Horned Larks.  There weren't any waterfowl on the lake, but the trees in the little inlet on the south end held tons of birds.  Highlights included Ash-throated Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak, and another Yellow-breasted Chat.  From there we headed south to Monticello, and the Devil's Canyon Campground.  We picked up the rest of our 29 species (and then some) with a bunch of species including Steller's Jay, Western Bluebirds, Western Tanager, White-breasted Nuthatch, Green-tailed Towhee, Spotted Towhee, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher as well as a few others. We were not able to locate any Pygmy Nuthatches or Acorn Woodpeckers, but the area was quite birdy. Saturday made up for the warm weather and slow birding on Friday and we had a great trip. Thanks to those who came out!
 

TOOELE COUNTY

Keeli Marvel (16 Jun 2014) - [Rush Valley] -  went into work late today and made a quick stop on my way in to bird around the Clover Springs Campground up Johnson Pass (a few miles west of Rush Valley). Nothing completely out of the ordinary, but lots of really nice birds to see for such a quick stop. Complete list is below. Happy Birding!
   --Red-tailed Hawk, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Western Kingbird, Plumbeous Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Mountain Bluebird, American Robin, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Green-tailed Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting,
Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch
 

UINTAH COUNTY

Diane Penttila (24 Jun 2014) - [Ouray NWR] - Heard a LEAST BITTERN  in Leota bottom today. Only second time I have heard one here.

Diane Penttila (18 Jun 2014) -  Most wetlands flooded up to or beyond our expectations. Nice to have water again. However, part of the auto tour is closed where the river has damaged the road again. The following birds were seen within the survey route:
   --Canada geese, Mallard, Gadwall, Green-winged teal, Cinnamon teal, Blue-winged teal, Northern shoveler, Wood duck, Ruddy duck, Redhead, Ring-necked duck, American coot, Great blue heron, Black-crowned night heron, Snowy egret, Great egret, White-faced ibis, Double-crested cormorant, American white pelican, American Bittern, Killdeer, Black-necked stilt, Spotted sandpiper, Wilson's phalarope, Clark's grebe, Western grebe, Pied-billed grebe, Eared grebe, Forster's tern, Black tern, Ring-billed gull, Bald eagle, American kestrel, Red-tailed hawk, Turkey vulture
 

UTAH COUNTY

Doug Mead (19 Jun 2014) - Ned and I birded the West side of Utah Lake from Saratoga Springs down to Goshen today. We wanted to check out the usual Burrowing Owl sites and we struck out at the 5 locations where we have seen them before. Also, the Great-horned Owl nest was empty. Nevertheless there were some good birds. Highlights of the trip included:
   --Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, N. Harrier (male), Long-billed Curlew, Chukar, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron, Common Nighthawk, Bullock's Oriole
   --Secret Pond-Goshen: Gadwall, Mallard, Teal-female sp, Bobolink (1/4 mi. E.), Western Kingbird, Savannah Sparrow

Doug Mead (5 Jun 2014) - Ned Bixler and I took a drive up American Fork Canyon this morning and found a Blue (Dusky) Grouse just below the summit at 8060' feeding on the side of the road. Also saw a couple of Western Tanagers and a possible American Three-toed Woodpecker in the Timpooneke campground.

Norm Jenson (5 Jun 2014) - I saw my first Juniper Titmouse a while ago, but Gail wasn't with me. So today after we finished with our Utah County Birding, highlights there included Gray Vireo, Black-throated Sparrows, and our first of year Common Nighthawks, we continued back to Salt Lake County and my secret Juniper Titmouse spot. Now Gail has hers.

Jeff Cooper (3 Jun 2014) - Camping with my twin sons at Timpooneke Campground up American Fork Canyon. I enjoyed photographing Broad-tailed Hummingbirds fighting for possession of a Twinberry Honeysuckle shrub near our campsite, but the bird surprise of the weekend was a pair of American Three-toed Woodpeckers I found at the campground.
 

WASATCH COUNTY

Norm Brown (24  Jun 2014) - [Bald Mountain] - This morning, Dave Hanscom and I hiked up Bald Mountain via the East Black Forks Trailhead route in hopes of finding WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. A chilly 39 degree morning welcomed us to the starting parking lot, but the trails held up well with a bit of sulky mud from previous rain/snow. The trail led us straight up with no interruption and once we peaked Bald Mountain the Ptarmigan search was on. After circling around for about 45 minutes I nearly stumbled onto a Ptarmigan. Blending in perfectly with the rocky hillside, the bird never lost its form. Hanging out for a five minutes behind a rock, then deciding to strut on for food, the White-tailed Ptarmigan continued up the hill feeding on the low brush at Bald Mountain.

The trail leading up to the summit is in very good condition, with only a few muddy spots, with the typical thunderstorm rolling in after 1:00 PM (which we avoided). It was a very active mountainous birding trip with multiple views of AMERICAN PIPITS, AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS (everywhere), plenty of GRAY JAYS, and lots of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, PINE SISKEN, DARK-EYED JUNCOS, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, CHICKADEES and HERMIT THRUSHES. We also got get great looks at TOWNSEND'S SOLITARES, HORNED LARKS, YELLOW-RUMBED WARBLERS and a lone BROWN CREEPER and PINE GROSBEAK.

Wayne Whaley (4 Jun 2914) - This morning around 11:20 we (the ornithology class) found a fledgling Northern Saw-whet Owl at Cascade Springs, Wasatch Co. It was a very cute guy sitting low on a branch by one of the paved trails. Everyone went nuts over how cute it was. And many photos were taken. It eventually flew to a higher branch and we left. MacGillivray’s Warbler was our next best bird.
 

WEBER COUNTY

Mike Hearell (17 June 2014) - [WAS field trip to Willard Basin]  - I had to move the date of the trip up a couple of weeks sooner than I would have liked due to scheduling issues on my part. The result being that we missed a couple of our target birds, but we still saw some good birds and ended up with 39 species on the evening. Here is a list of the birds encountered by the 13 participants on the trip...
   -- Turkey Vulture, California Gull, Flammulated Owl, Northern Pygmy-owl, Northern Saw Whet Owl, Common Poorwill, Common Nighthawk, White-throated Swift, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Western Wood Pewee, Dusky Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Black-capped Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Bluebird, Townsend's Solitaire, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, American Kestrel, MacGillivray's Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided and Gray-headed), Rock Wren, House Wren, Lazuli Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Steller's Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Cassin's Finch, Pine Siskin

Kris Purdy (1 Jun 2014) - A male BALTIMORE ORIOLE was singing along the Weber River in Ogden, Weber County, near the Weber County Waste Transfer Station at about 10:00 this morning. He persistently sang “Deer-der, deer-der, deer der, der der” for 10-15 minutes before I finally saw him to put the image of the bird with the song. ... I got a full-frontal view of him, particularly the complete black head ending in a point into the bright orange breast, which continued all the way to the underside of the tail as more orange-yellowish. I also caught a side view of one orange wing bar and one white one.