Provo Airport 3/13/03

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

Hola amigos!

I finally had a chance to do a little Utah birding this morning, after spending most of the past
two months in Mexico. It was the first time I'd been out around here since the Christmas Bird
Count. I'm glad to see that Spring is well advanced, as it makes the transition from the tropics
a bit easier.

Anyway, we did see a couple of good birds around the Provo Airport dike road - several Sage
Sparrows along the west side, about 300 meters north of the southwest corner. One was very
cooperative, and offered some extended looks at close range. We also saw an immature Northern
Goshawk in the trees at the eastern corner of where the south extension heads south - it flew
off to the east, and was last seen soaring over Springville.

One other thing we saw, which was quite strange, was a male Ring-necked Pheasant wading and
foraging among the reeds at the edge of the canal along the west side. It was acting like a
giant rail, and at times was well out into the water - I've never seen the likes of this before.

Another note: If anyone has seen a Northern Pygmy-Owl recently, could you please let me know
where and when you saw it, and especially if it seemed to be on territory? I have some clients
on a tour next week who would really like to see one. Any information on recent sightings would
be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance.

Good birding!

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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