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Pomera and I decided to try our luck in birding
(far) northern Utah today. We visited White's Valley west of Tremonton,
Cutler Marsh on the way to Logan, and Tony Grove (with all the construction up
Logan Canyon)!
The "Bird of the Day" was a flock of about 15 Gray
Partridge in what seems to be the north end of White's Valley.
We walked through the fields trying to find them, or some Sharp-tailed
Grouse. Found neither. But, when we got back to the car the covey
flew up in front of us. They had been "waiting" for us and we surprised
them! Life bird for both of us! We saw a total of 31 species, as
listed below.
Other birds seen in White's Valley
include:
Mourning Dove (many)
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike (many)
Black-billed Magpie
Barn Swallow
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Western Meadowlark, and
Brewer's Blackbird.
In Cutler Marsh at the rest stop we saw:
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret (with herd of cattle!)
Sandhill Crane (adults with one young)
Franklin's Gull (many coursing the fields), and
Forster's Tern.
At Tony Grove we saw:
Red-tailed Hawk
Hairy Wooodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood Peewee
Violey-green Swallow
Brown Creeper (several)
Yellow-rumped Warbler, and
White-crowned Sparrow.
We also saw:
Swainson's Hawk
Turkey Vulture
American Kestrel, and
Belted Kingfisher (in Logan Canyon).
A lovely day for birding, except for the slow traffic up Logan
Canyon. The distance to Tony Grove is exactly 2.0 miles from Main Street
in Logan, which is important, since the crews working on the road had
disassembled the Forest Service sign marking the turn-off to Tony Grove!
Now a try for the Lewis Woodpecker in Farmington, thanks to Bill Fennimore
of the Layton Wild Bird Center!
Glenn
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