Forward: Sightings from Washington Co.

["Utah Birds" <utahbirds at excite dot com>]

 Subject: Sighting from Washington Co. 
From: Josh Kreitzer 

 
Dear fellow birders,
On a wonderful family to our Great Grandmother's cabin in Pine Valley, I picked a lifer.
Across the street from her cabin is a stand of willows in a now-dry creekbed. I followed some juncos over there and noticed a chunky brownish bird fly into the thick brush, after following it and waiting patiently for it to come into view I clearly saw it, as did, later, both of my parents. A beautiful rocky mountain Fox Sparrow. The bird was fairly tame, as was the
Worm-eating Warbler last month, another lifer. They both seemed to enjoy our company as they foraged for food. At first glimpse I had passed the bird off as a Song Sparrow, but closer inspection payed off.
It had the unique arrowhead-shaped spots on its breast and sides coming to somewhat of a dark circle on the center of the breast. The beak was good-sized and had a yellowish lower mandible and dark upper. The head was rounded and mostly gray as was the back, lacking the stripings of a Song Sparrow. The wings and tail were fairly reddish. If anyone wishes to look for it while in Washington County you can email me at joshkreitzer@hotmail.com.

Other interesting finds at the not-too-distant Pine Valley Reservoir were:
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Ring-necked Duck
Belted Kingfisher
Mtn. Chickadee
Clark's Nutcracker
Steller's Jay
Brown Creeper
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Townsend's Solitaire

Good birding,
Josh Kreitzer
P.S. If anyone is looking for a White-winged Dove, there have been several perched on powerlines and trees near my home in Washington, Utah.

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