Three-toed

[tuularose at juno dot com]

This one is  (was) #2 nemesis bird for me (Still haven't seen a Northern
waterthrush, #1), and seemed like the surefire nest location in a saguaro
pine tree was going to pay off, but disappointingly no activity at this
hole in a tree in the High Uintas today (Su 7.1.01, around 11 am). I
parted company with Julie Van Moorhem and Kent Lewis (who kindly led me
to the hopeful tree), and decided to walk on the trail along Mirror Lake.
 I walked  for about a quarter of a  mile and sat on a rock  to rest and
take in the scenery. Heard baby bird chatter, turned around and there was
a female three-toed woodpecker at a nest hole in a dead tree.
So, if you are desperate for this bird and the other place fails, I'll
make an equally desperate effort at directions to it. Almost impossible
to find landmarks that would differ from everything else along that
trail, but here goes:
>From the main parking lot in the picnic area proceed  across the small
bridge and past the set up telescope on a trail that follows the
shoreline going north.There are several boardwalks on the way. The first
three are quite long and close together going around a little bay. The
next one is short and the following one longer again going over a marshy
area with a tiny stream running into the lake. After this one the trail
winds around to the left and by a bend to the right again look for a tall
lightning-struck pine tree on the left that has separated into three
trunks, the middle one being dead. When you find this tree on the left,
look to your right and you'll see a dead cut -off tree about 30 feet from
the trail. Go to it and look to your left for the other dead, cut-off
tree. That is the one that has a nest hole on the side away from the
trail, quite close to the ground, maybe 3-4 feet up. I observed the
female coming to feed the babies (who were very audible, even between
feedings) every 10-15 minutes or so. After about 45 minutes the male
showed up also. 
If you were able to wade through all this, you are already half way
there. Good luck.   ~   Tuula
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