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This past week Robin Tuck
and I decided to go to St. George and Washington County for a couple of
days--Wednesday and Thursday. However, when we learned that Dennis Shirley
would be there on Thursday and Friday, we extended our stay until Friday
evening. Our trip resulted in a viewing of 83 different species of birds,
some of which were life birds. The highlights of our trip is below,
followed with the list of birds seen.
We left Provo on
Wednesday morning, a little after 6 a.m. Our first stop was Leeds, at
about 10 .am. When we arrived in Leeds, we looked for the home of
Charlie Sheard, so we could try to see the Anna's Hummingbird
that was coming to his feeder, and had been previously reported and seen by
others. As we tried to locate his home we were fortunately able to
intercept him on the hill toward his home, as he was on his way to
the post office. Afterwards he was going to bird the new Sand
Hollow Reservoir. We first stopped at Charlie's house, where we were
greeted by a lovely bird-friendly setting. Here we saw feeding Lesser and
American Goldfinch, House Finch, and Dark-eyed Junco. We joined forces
with Charlie and went to Quail Creek Reservoir, Stratton Pond, and Sand
Hollow Reservoir. Quail Creek is being repaired was very low because the
water had been pumped to Sand Hollow through a connecting pipeline. At
Stratton Pond we saw Redheads, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead,
and the Greater and Lesser Scaup. We were able to
compare these last two species side by side and note the differences.
At Sand Hollow we saw at least three White-winged Scoter and some
Ruddy Ducks. We saw two birds fly off the nearby mountain into the
lowlands near the reservoir. Charlie and I identified them
as immature Northern Shrike, but Robin is withholding
judgment.
Later, after
Charlie's departure we tried for the Eurasian Collared, White-winged, and
Inca Doves previously reported in Washington City and the Golden-crowned
Sparrow at Red Rock Campground. We had no success in
seeing these birds at this time.
Our next stop was
the Washington Fields, and in the field with lots of water we were rewarded
with the sightings of numerous ducks, as well as a lone Snow Goose
with Northern Pintail, meandering through the field in search of
food. A Northern Harrier was in the background coursing the
field. The surprise of our stop there was seeing a flock of about 25
Common Snipe settle into the low growth right in front of us. It was
amazing how they disappeared out of sight in such low growth. We
identified them as we saw a few heads pop up occasionally. We
also saw a pair of Cinnamon Teal. On this day we saw a total
of 16
species of ducks and geese, which contributed heavily to our trip total
of 19 species. Earlier we spotted a Ferruginous Hawk with
a lovely Prairie Falcon circling nearby.
To end the day we saw 3 Common
Merganser hens on the pond of the Tonaquint Nature Center, and at the
Southgate Golf Course we spotted the Great Egret in the cattails. We
ended the day with a count of 49 species.
At 8 a.m. on Thursday morning
we met Dennis at Quail Creek Reservoir. He had already spotted 4 Common
Loon and Double-crested Cormorant, which added to our totals. We then
back-tracked to Stratton Pond and Sand Hollow, so Dennis could add the birds
previously seen to his list. We also were able to see a pair of
Canvasback.
We then went to the Washington City and the Washington
Fields, where we again struck out on the doves and Burrowing Owl. Some
birds we saw were a Say's Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Verdin, Brown
Creeper, Bewick's Wren, and an Abert's Towhee. Just as I
told Dennis that I needed to see a Brown Creeper,
Robin magically spotted one right in front of us! Dennis and
Robin earlier saw an Orange-crowned Warbler. On the way to Red Rock
Campground, we saw a lovely sing Crissal
Thrasher.
We stopped for lunch at a local
Burger King and immediately saw a Great-tailed Grackle.
After a brief time at Red Rock
Campground we spotted the Golden-crowned Sparrow, which was with the
White-crowned Sparrows. However, it was very skittish. It is best
viewed from a location on the upper road, to the left of the second camp host's
trailer. (The large, black poodle is friendly.)
We thought our highlight bird
of the day would be the G-c Sparrow. But, later in the day, after
waiting for 1:15 hours in a cold wind, and near the end of the day, we finally
saw the male Anna's Hummingbird as it came to Charlie's hummingbird
feeder. It showed up at 6:15 p.m. What a beautiful
bird!!! The gorget was very large and beautiful. It was
in shades from brilliant red near its beak, to a fading light pink on the
edges. Lovely, lovely. This is why we bird, right?
Undoubtedly our bird of the day, and probably of the trip. Thank you
Charlie for your hospitality and for finally delivering a great bird!. We
recorded a total of about 22 species for this day, which brought our total for
the trip to 71.
We awoke early Friday morning
with lots of anticipation. This was our day for Red Hills Golf
Course, Welcome Springs and Lyttle Ranch! We were joined by the ever
hospitable Charlie Sheard. At Red Hills we saw Pied-billed Grebe, Black
Phoebe, Northern Mockingbird, and fortunately, the Common Moorhen in the
cattails in its pond.
At, or near Welcome Springs we
saw a Mountain Bluebird, Western Bluebird, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, a Cooper's
Hawk, a lone Juniper Titmouse, and Dennis heard some
Bushtits.
At Lyttle Ranch we were greeted
by the Phainopepla and saw a Greater Roadrunner singing from the top of a
Hill. We heard Gambel's Quail and later saw Great Blue Heron and a large
flock of female (only) Red-winged Blackbird at the small pond further up the
canyon.
On the way out, after
seven stops, Dennis and Charlie finally found a pair of Cactus Wren,
which we all enjoyed. Then, at the same location we saw a pair of
Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We were able to see the brilliant red head of
the male. The Canyon Wren were in an area that was on the south side
of the road to Lyttle Ranch, 1.3 miles from the yellow cattle guard. They
came to their call. We ended the day in the Washington Fields, with
two pair of Burrowing Owl at the Old Stake Farm, and one Prairie Phase Merlin in
a distant tree on the same road. We had great views of both. We had
a total of 13 species for the day. Depending on who saw what bird, we had
a trip total of 84 species.
Our list for the trip included
the following birds:
Common Loon
Pied-billed
Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western
Grebe
Double-crested
Cormorant
Great Blue
Heron
Great Egret
Snow Goose
Canada
Goose
Green-winged
Teal
Mallard
Northern
Pintail
Cinnamon
Teal
Northern
Shoveler
American
Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked
Duck
Greater Scaup
(L)
Lesser
Scaup
White-winged
Scoter
Bufflehead
Hooded
Merganser
Common
Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
(juv.)
Northern
Harrier
Sharp-shinned
Hawk
Red-tailed
Hawk
Ferruginous
Hawk
American
Kestrel
Merlin
Prairie
Falcon
Common
Moorhen
American
Coot
Killdeer
Common
Snipe
Ring-billed
Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning
Dove
Greater
Roadrunner
Burrowing
Owl
Anna's
Hummingbird
Ladder-backed
Woodpecker
Northern
Flicker
Black
Phoebe
Say's
Phoebe
Northern Shrike (Glenn &
Charlie)
Loggerhead
Shrike
Western
Scrub-Jay
Common Raven
(everywhere)
Juniper
Titmouse
Verdin
Bushtit (Dennis, Robin and
Charlie)
Brown
Creeper
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Bewick's
Wren
Ruby-crowned
Kinglet
Western
Bluebird
Mountain
Bluebird
American
Robin
Northern
Mockingbird
Crissal
Thrasher
European
Starling
American
Pipit
Phainopepla
Nashville Warbler (Robin and
Dennis)
Yellow-rumped
Warbler
Spotted
Towhee
Abert's
Towhee
Savannah
Sparrow
White-crowned
Sparrow
Golden-crowned
Sparrow
Dark-eyed
Junco
Red-winged
Blackbird
Western
Meadowlark
Brewer's
Blackbird
Great-tailed
Grackle
Brown-headed
Cowbird
House Finch
Lesser
Goldfinch
American
Goldfinch
House
Sparrow.
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