Salt Lake City CBC

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

The Salt Lake City CBC was held on Sunday, Dec. 15. We had one of the warmest days, and nicest
weather in general, that we've had in many years. There was almost no snow in the entire count
circle, and all the water was open. Several groups mentioned having to dodge golf balls on the
courses - it's the first time since I've been doing the count that I've even seen golfers out on
count day. We also had more counters out than we've had for many years, meaning we had good
coverage into most areas. In spite of (or maybe because of) these good conditions, our species
count was one of the lowest we've had recently. We saw 84 species on count day, and another 5
during count week, for a total of 89 for this count. Missing were a number of northern and high
altitude species which apparently hadn't arrived in the valley yet, including Northern Shrike,
Bohemian Waxwing, Cassin's Finch and Evening Grosbeak. We also missed a number of species we
usually get, such as Cooper's Hawk, Common Snipe, Hairy Woodpecker, Winter Wren, and Harris's
Sparrow (in spite of the fact that one was seen in the count circle just before count week
began). Waterfowl were also a bit thin in the count, probably because there was so much open
water. On the bright side, we did have a few good birds; Terry Sadler and Jack Holley had a
White Pelican, Sylvia Gray and company found a Blue Grouse in the city cemetary, Edson Liete saw
a Ruffed Grouse in Dry Canyon (I think this is the first time we've had both grouse in the same
count), Bob Walters and June Ryburn had a bunch of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and Larene Wyss,
David Wheeler, Glen Warchol and I saw 3 Hooded Mergansers by the airport and some Pygmy
Nuthatches in Liberty Park (we had all three nuthatches there). We managed four species of owls,
with Barn, Western Screech-, Great Horned and Northern Pygmy-Owls. In the numbers department, 19
Lesser Yellowlegs was noteable, as was 185 Mourning Doves (maybe a count high) and 92 American
Pipits. The 18,357 starlings was entirely too normal . . .

Overall, it was a great day to be out, and I think a good time was had by all, including a
7-year old girl, who was one of our youngest counters in recent years. My thanks to everyone who
helped, and, like Merrill, I'd urge you to participate in Utah's remaining CBC's.

Mark

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
1432 Downington Ave.
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
tel./fax. (801) 487-9453
westwings@sisna.com

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