White's Valley & Promontory birds - Rancher requests birders not tresspass

["Betsy Beneke" <bbeneke at brigham dot net>]

Hi All:

I went up to White's Valley, northern Box Elder County today, following Kris
Purdy's lead.  Got off I-84 at ranch exit 32 and spent about two hours
wandering around the valley.  Before leaving the valley, I talked to the
rancher who owns the old house where the barn owls nest.  He relayed that a
pair nested there for a number of years and then left abruptly one year - he
didn't know why.  This year, a pair was back in the house again, but he
didn't think they had a successful hatch.  Apparently, Kris wasn't the first
one to find this spot, as he said he'd seen a few people walking up to the
house and peering in the windows and door.  He assumed they were birders
looking for the owls.  He was very nice, but asked me to relay to everyone -
PLEASE DON'T TRESPASS.  The house sits fairly close to the road - owls would
be easily visible coming and going.  One window in particular, which faces
the road, has lots of white-wash on the sill; undoubtedly used as a perch.
So if you look for the owls here - go at a time when they're active and
observe only from the road.

A bit farther down the valley, I was watching a couple of pipits skylarking,
when a brown blur came screaming into my binocular view and POOF!  Feathers
flew, and a prairie falcon took the pipit out of mid air and flew to the
ground with it for an early lunch.  Later, the falcon caught up to me in
another area and was hazing a harrier.  The harrier got up and they played
chicken a few times, which was pretty cool.  Eventually the falcon flew off.
Other interesting finds included:

@Sharp-tailed Grouse (2)
@Golden Eagle
@Mountain Bluebird

I headed north on I-84 and took Hwy. 83, Exit 26, toward Thiokol.  Found one
flock of about a dozen chukars picking grit across from Thiokol property.
At the rocket display, there were 15-20 mule deer hanging out in the yard.
I was surprised to see a reddish colored spotted fawn with the group, about
half the size of the adults - seems awfully late for such a young
one...isn't it?

On the Promontory road, some of my finds included:
@Golden Eagle
@Rough-legged Hawk
@Prairie Falcon
@Chukar (2 flocks of about a dozen each)
@Downy woodpecker (in the only tree for 5 miles!)
@Loggerhead Shrike
@Cliff Swallow (4)  are they late?
@Rock Wren
@Ruby-crowned Kinglet
@Yellow-rumped Warbler (kinglets and warblers, several places, in the rabbit
brush)
@Sage Thrasher
@Mountain Bluebird (about 10 birds in all - different places)
@White-crowned Sparrow
@Junco (several small flocks - different places)
@American Goldfinch

Was an enjoyable day.  Tomorrow - I'm headed for the mountains!

Betsy Beneke
Perry, Box Elder County

_______________________________________________

"Utah Birds" web site: http://www.utahbirds.org
     BirdTalk:
To subscribe, e-mail:  birdtalk-subscribe@utahbirds.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail:  birdtalk-unsubscribe@utahbirds.org
To send a message, e-mail:  birdtalk@utahbirds.org
_________________________________________________