Sanpete & Sevier Counties & South Texas

[Alton Thygerson <thygerson at byu dot edu>]

April 10, 2004

Today (Saturday) my wife and I let the road unfold before us having goals
yet having no definite time frame except to get home before dark (sounds all
too familiar to most birders).  The goal was to knock off two more counties
of the Utah County Birders 2004 Challenge (29 species in 20 counties).

Sanpete County
Forty-one species were identified.  The main stops were Maple Canyon (near
Fountain Green) and Wales Reservoir.  Highlight birds were:  Cassin's Finch,
Bushtit, Canvasback, and Sandhill Crane.

Sevier County
Saw 30 species.  Main stops were Redmond Reservoir, eastward on I-70 to exit
61 area, and Richfield area.  Highlight birds:  Merlin, Cattle Egret,
Mountain Bluebird, and Long-billed Curlew.

We totaled 53 species for the day.

South Texas

Today's effort paled when compared with last week's venture with Bryan
Shirley's tour in South Texas where we saw about 100 species per day.  I saw
a total of 209 species for the trip of which 71 were ABA lifers for me.
Highlight birds included:  Whooping Crane, Clapper Rail, Least Grebe,
Neotropic Cormorant, Brown Jay, Green Jay, Aplomado Falcon, Buff-bellied
Hummingbird, Elf Owl, Cave Swallow, Tropical Parula, Clay-colored Robin,
Groove-billed Ani, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Golden-cheeked Warbler,
Olive Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Altamira Oriole, Sege Wren, White-collared
Seedeater, Red-billed Pigeon, Short-tailed Hawk, Gray Hawk, White-tailed
Kite, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Green Kingfisher, etc., etc., etc.  Our
biggest miss of the Lower Rio Grande Valley specialties was the
Hooked-billed Kite, and we only heard the Ferruginous Pygmy-owl.  I guess
this is an excuse for another South Texas trip for the kite and into the Big
Bend area.  

Alton Thygerson 

 

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