West Desert Loop 9/26 and 9/27

["Rick Fridell" <rfridell at redrock dot net>]

This weekend Larry Tripp and I took an excursion through the West Desert...

We left after work on Thursday (9/25) and our first good bird was a Common
Tern at Quail Creek State Park (Washington Co.).  Our next stop was in
Minersville (Beaver Co.) where we saw nine Eurasian Collared-Doves and a
huge flock of 150+ Pinyon Jays. We spent what little remained of the
daylight at Minersville Reservoir, and were surprised to see a flock of 5-10
Gambel's Quail going to roost in an old Magpie nest near the north end of
the campground. After dark we drove to the Callao CCC Camp (Juab County) and
spent the night.

On 9/26 we started the day birding in Callao (Juab County).  Callao was
thick with birds, but mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers and other typical
western migrants.  We did get a quick glimpse of what we think may have been
a Blackpoll Warbler, but we were unable to confirm it. Also Larry may have
seen a Least Flycatcher, but it also disappeared into the thick Russian
Olives.  Our next stop was Fish Springs NWR were we saw plenty of birds to
keep us busy, but nothing unusual. We started south and visited Miller
Spring (Snake Valley, Juab Co.). Highlights included a male Wood Duck, Sora,
and a bright Cassin's Vireo.  At Foote Reservoir (Bishop Springs, Millard
Co.) we saw a Short-eared Owl roosting in the Russian Olives.  We camped
that night at Pine Grove in the Wah Wah Mts (Beaver Co.). We saw several
Common Poorwills along the road into the canyon.  We also heard a W.
Screech-Owl calling near dawn (in Aspen/ Ponderosa/ Pinyon habitat?).

On 9/27 we had a Winter Wren in our camp at Pine Grove.  We met Steve and
Priscilla Summers and visited the Wah Wah Valley Ranch (Beaver County; this
is a private ranch and permission is required).  Highlights included a
Blue-winged Teal, Slate-colored Fox Sparrow, and a Grasshopper Sparrow.
That afternoon we visited the Kaufman Ranch (Millard Co.; permission also
required) and although we saw both a high diversity and good numbers of
birds, we did not come up with any vagrants. We did see three Lewis's
Woodpeckers and a Swainson's Thrush.

Also we saw Red-naped Sapsuckers at nearly every stop (13 out of 15), even
if the place included only a couple trees.

Yesterday (9/28), Kristen and I visited Kolob Reservoir (Washington Co.) and
counted 27 Lewis's Woodpeckers and also saw our first Bald Eagle of the fall
season (an adult flying near Blue Springs Res.).

Best Regards,

Rick Fridell
Hurricane, UT

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