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in search of (more) Washington county birds

Dennis Shirley and I left Thursday morning on a return trip to
Washington county. Dennis had targeted three birds for us, the
red-shouldered hawk reported in Gunlock on Jan. 30th, the brown thrasher
reported at Lytle Ranch on Jan. 27th, and what has become our nemesis
bird of the year thus far: a golden-crowned sparrow.

We arrived in St. George around 12:30 p.m. and drove straight on to
Gunlock, with a stop at Gunlock reservoir. We pulled into the view point
at the north end of the reservoir and spent time sorting the rafts of
waterfowl. No loons of any sort were on the water. Typical winter
waterfowl were well-represented. Birds of interest included red-breasted
mergansers (6 females, no males), hooded mergansers (10 individuals) and
at least 1 greater scaup.  None of the "double-crested mergansers"
observed last week at Quail Creek were seen, nor were any double-crested
cormorants.

The town of Gunlock was well-acquainted with Dennis's truck by the time
it became too dark to see. We drove slowly and carefully from one end of
town to the other, and then back again, ranging as far north as Eagle
Pass Ranch (?), but we could not locate the red-shouldered hawk. Gunlock
abounded in common winter birds, with a small group of special visitors.
We observed seven chipping sparrows, outside their normal winter range,
consorting with a large flock of white-crowned sparrows near the north
end of town.  At about 5:00 p.m. a raptor rocketed past the LDS church,
looking rather like a buteo but behaving somewhat like an accipiter. We
saw it too briefly to identify it and could not relocate it before dark.

Friday morning, we observed two cactus wrens as we drove the dirt road
that connects Lytle Ranch to the rest of the world. Shortly after our
arrival Kent Lewis appeared, also in search of the thrasher. It was
exactly where Merrill had told Dennis to look, in the brush east of the
monument. But it saw us before we could get good, confirmatory looks,
and darted into the thick brush. After sitting quietly for several hours
and watching patiently, we decided to try to get the bird to move. We
encircled and then slowly approached the brush. We crept closer and
closer, ready for the bird to dart. Nothing happened. The bird had
managed to sneak out of the brush without our noticing. Disappointed, we
stood and talked as Kent prepared to leave. Suddenly the bird appeared
in the large clump of brush immediately to the south of the clump of
brush in which it initially disappeared. For 10 minutes it behaved with
a nonchalance that belied it's reputation as a skittish skulker. It ran
from bush to bush across the hillside like a miniature road-runner at
times, and scratched at leaves like an ordinary robin at others.

We spent late Friday afternoon and early evening in search of a
golden-crowned sparrow. We started with the flock often found near the
north-east corner of Red Cliffs golf course, only to find a gray fox
lurking, looking for an easy meal. The sparrows were no where to be
seen. The common moorhen was observed in its customary spot.

We proceeded to Confluence Park and in the remaining light began to
re-examine one of the flocks of white-crowned sparrows we had observed
for several hours last week. When it became too dark to see, we finally
called it a day.

We spent about 45 minutes in the same place this morning, enduring cold
winds and dark clouds spitting small pellets of snow, before deciding to
split up. Dennis remained to search the west bank of the river, where he
eventually observed the great egret that eluded us last week. I crossed
the foot bridge to the east side of Confluence Park. At the top of the
rise, at the switch back, I could see sparrows to the south, flitting
from one of clump of weeds to the next, along the Webb Hill section of
the foot path. There was a large group of sparrows (25-35) south of Webb
Hill, west of the Sports Academy, and north of the Flying J, in the
weeds between the freeway and the footpath. There were also 50-75
sparrows in the weeds in the small catchment basin immediately to the
east of the path and south of Webb hill. Most of the two groups of birds
were adult and juvenile white-crowns, with a healthy population of house
sparrows also present. The Harris's sparrow seen last week was still
present and gave me several good looks. I also got a very good look at
two other birds. One I have tentatively identified as female lapland
longspur in winter plumage; it appeared very similar to the illustration
in National Geographic's "Field Guide to the Birds of North America," p.
423. The other appeared to be a winter-adult golden-crowned sparrow
(National Geographic. p. 417) and appeared as per the illustration,
except the dark brown crown extended all the way down to the eye. When I
returned with Dennis we easily found the Harris's sparrow, but we could
not find the other two unusual birds. We also checked the field
immediately north of Walmart and west of the freeway without success,
although it contained at least 50-75 sparrows or more. Corroboration of
either or both of these two unusual birds would be very much
appreciated.

We stopped at Red Cliffs Recreation Site before we began the journey
home. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. A white-throated sparrow
was spotted mingling with a flock of white-crowned sparrows near the
stream, immediately south of the Host site. The perfect end to a great
trip!

We have a request. Dennis and I have spent over 12 hours scanning St.
George sparrows over the last two week ends, and Dennis spent an
additional 8-10 hours two weeks ago, vainly searching for a definitive
example of a golden-crowned sparrow, one that even I cannot possibly
mis-identify. If any of you kindly souls know of or happen upon such a
bird and can put us out of our misery, we would be greatly appreciative.
We will happily pay for the postage on any such e-mail alert sent our
direction. Many thanks in advance,

Lu Giddings




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