common ground dove still in Wilson's orchard, Williamson's sapsucker in Virgin

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

very early this morning Merrill Webb, Dennis Shirley, and I braved bad
weather and deplorable roads to make the trip to Hurricane. The bird
gods rewarded our efforts. The common ground dove was feeding by itself
on the strip of grass between the first (eastern most) row of trees and
the dirt road. Merrill first saw it about 7 trees south of the tree
sporting the "pecans" sign, i.e., to the east of the yellow garage. We
watched it from about 9:05 - 9:30 a.m. It seemed more leery of the
Brewers blackbirds that occasionally flew in to feed around it than it
did of us. We did not need to wander on private property to observe it.
It is very easy to overlook and given its coloration, hard to find when
it flies and moves to a different spot, especially in the poor lighting
we had this morning. If you decide to chase it be very persistent,
patient, and meticulous in looking for it. We did not look for the
red-headed woodpecker but assumed it was still present.

We then travelled to Virgin to look for the red-breasted sapsucker
reported on 12/31. We began at the Zion River Resort in Virgin where it
had been reported. The managers very kindly gave us permission to wander
their property. Several of the current residents keep a clipboard in the
office with a daily report of birds seen in the locale. We did not find
the sapsucker there, nor could we re-locate it elsewhere in Virgin,
although we spent several hours carefully searching the portion of the
town that lies south of the highway and north of the river. There were
many other woodpeckers in Virgin, including red-shafted flickers, downy
woodpeckers, red-naped sapsuckers, and one very beautiful Williamson's
sapsucker (RW) in the pine trees to the south of Virgin's town hall.
There were also many other birds, including a roadrunner that responded
briefly to Merrill's pishing. This is an area that is worthy of a visit
when you visit Washington county to bird.

The roads were plowed and mostly dry on the return trip this afternoon,
although there were a few areas with lightly falling or blowing snow.

Lu Giddings


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