WW Scoters, RH Woodpecker, Williamson's Sapsucker, etc.

[Rick Fridell <rfridell at burgoyne dot com>]

Hello,
Yesterday (1/15) Larry Tripp, Marshall Topham, Cameron and Melody Rognan and
I visited some eastern Washington County locations.  Due to the recent
increase in water levels, there were almost no birds at Quail Creek State
Park.  Our next stop was the SR-9 (Hurricane) Sewage Ponds, where we picked
out a couple smaller geese in the Canada Geese flock, but couldn't see them
well enough to call them Cackling Geese.  At the Wilson Pecan Orchard we
spent some time photographing the lingering Red-headed Woodpecker.  We did
not see the C. Ground-Dove and we didn't find the Harris's Sparrow (last
seen 1/13), although we didn't look very long for the sparrow.  At Sand
Hollow State Park we observed a Greater Scaup, female Red-breasted
Merganser, and the pair of White-winged Scoters (remaining since
mid-October, usually below the main dam).  Despite intensively scoping all
the ducks we could not turn up any Black Scoters.

After a trip through the Hurricane Fields watching raptors, Larry and I went
on to Virgin and observed the adult male Williamson's Sapsucker at the old
Town Hall.  This is only the second wintering Williamson's Sapsucker record
that I'm aware of for Washington County.  The bird spends a lot of time on
the flag pole.  At one point we think we may have seen a female Williamson's
fly in, but the male chased it off before we could see it well.  There was
also a Lewis's Woodpecker hanging around the area.

As far as I know, the Rufous-backed Robin was last observed on December
31st.  If anyone has seen it since, please let me know. I'll keep everyone
posted if I hear any news of the Robin.

Best Regards,

Rick Fridell
Hurricane, UT

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