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Thanks to James Lofthouse for his tip on the good
birding along McMurdie Hollow Road in Cache County. He birded the
riparian eastern part of the road on 28 June; I birded the desert
grass/sage-steppe western part on Saturday morning. I found this
was a good place to study young sparrows. I saw Vesper, Brewer's, Lark,
and Chipping. It took me some studious gawking to discern that the quiet
and very small sparrow staring back at me from a willow was an immature and
quite nondescript Brewer's. I also saw a nice flurry of Orange-crowned
Warblers on the western end of the road and Lazuli Buntings throughout. I
speculate that the male Lazulis migrate early. I only saw females or immatures
on Saturday. I also saw a female Selasphorus hummer, a Warbling
Vireo, a House Wren, Western Kingbirds, a female Bullock's Oriole, Black-capped
Chickadees (a surprise--gleaning from greasewood and in a willow),
Red-winged Blackbirds, American Kestral, Northern Harrier, and two families of
Mountain Bluebirds at the corrals on either side of the road about halfway
between the highway and Paradise. The muddy areas within the
corrals were bee, wasp, and fly heaven and the bluebirds were making the
most of it. The oriole also joined in harvesting the bounty by perching
low on fences with the bluebirds and flying down on the ground to snack. I
thought this was good bird activity for a hot morning.
Several first-year Red-tailed Hawks practiced
their primal, hoarse screech--you know, the one moviemakers dub into every
desert scene in a western to make you think it's not a set? My live birds'
screech came out a little thin and scratchy. Their voices were not as
weak as the Swainson's, but they still sounded like they needed more
practice. I also noticed these hawks sometimes overshot their perches or
chose branches too small for their feet and thus ended up supported by
foliage.
Just after I pulled out of scrub oak and
through grass and sage I found a several-hundred foot long patch of
teasel in lavender bloom along the roadside. The patch was a-flutter with
a butterfly of the Checkerspot family, although I'm not sure which one. I
just had to count them and came up with 53. The teasel was also alive with
fritillaries, skippers, and an occasional cabbage butterfly.
McMurdie Hollow Road has a dirt surface and is not
marked in any way. It connects UT 91/89 and Paradise just north of
the Box Elder/Cache County line. The road looks like a pasture
entrance complete with fences on either side and a cattle guard, but there's no
sign warning drivers to not tresspass. By way of landmarks, there's also a very
large pile of dark gray landscaping rocks on the north side of the road after
you turn east off the highway. Check James Lofthouse's 28 June birdtalk
post for directions from the east end.
Kris
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