Phainopepla at Willard Bay

Kent, Julie and I were at the Willard Bay Campground on Friday morning. At about 10:00, Kent and I followed a soft call to a Russian Olive tree on the west side of the small pond. After listening to the bird call for a few minutes and being unable to locate it, Kent moved around the pond a little to try another view. The bird continued to call and then suddenly flew and perched on a snag on the north side of the pond. In flight, the bird had light wing patches. I got a clean look when it landed and saw a grayish bird with a long tail and head crest. Kent also got a clean look and said he thought it was a Phainopepla. We were both having trouble putting it all together since we were not in St. George. Funny how an out-of-range bird makes your brain fuzzy. The bird then flew into some Russian Olive trees on the east side of the pond. Kent stood guard while I went to get Julie. We tried to relocate the bird with no success. We split up and when we came back together, Julie said she had seen a charcoal gray bird roughly the size of a catbird fly by, but was unable to make any further identification. The taped call of the Phainopepla which we listened to later was consistent with what we heard coming from the Russian Olive tree.