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Fabulous Box Elder County has had far too little of
my birding attention of late and I sought to rectify that situation today.
I birded the Dale Young Nature Park in Perry from 2:00 to 5:00 this
afternoon. What a great little spot this is! The park is
a wetland between US 89 and I-15 and hosts a nice variety of birds. I
saw about 40 species, which is a testament to what good habitat these several
acres provide.
I was pleased to see both a pair of Wood Ducks
flying up out of the marsh and two pairs of Blue-winged Teal resting and feeding. In addition, the marsh hosted
Canada Geese with goslings, a Graylag Goose, Gadwall, Mallards with ducklings
(cuteness alert! cuteness alert!) and Cinnamon Teal.
The marsh is quintessential Common Yellowthroat and
Virginia Rail habitat. I saw or heard four separate el-bandito male
yellowthroats wearing their black masks and I saw a female along the water's
edge, too. Two beautiful Virginia Rails came out with recorded
call-coaxing. I just sat in a chair next to the reeds and watched them
tentatively poke through, quickly cross open spots covered in bright green duck
weed, and squeeze out their grating call. Those bright orange bills, rusty
breasts, and zebra-striped undertail coverts just might qualify the Virginia
Rail as the most beautiful marsh bird. One time the rail call coaxed out a
curious yellowthroat and once a Song Sparrow.
Other water birds included those in the marsh and
those that merely flew over without stopping--Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy
Egrets, Killdeer, Willets, Wilson's Snipe winnowing in the field north of the
park, Franklin's Gulls mewing their cat call overhead, California Gulls, a
Caspian Tern, and a Forster's Tern.
The singers made mucho merry. Bullock's
Orioles scolded and scolded and scolded. Black-headed Grosbeaks sang with
a speed and urgency as if they had to hurry to get their pent-up song out to the
world. Yellow Warblers were sweet, sweet, sweet,
oh-so-sweet! The whinnying, chucking and SEE-YUR! calls of
the Red-winged Blackbirds just about drowned out everything else. And the
Song Sparrows were not shy about teeing up on fence posts just 15 feet away and
belting out their "maids, maids, maids, put on your tea
kettle-ettle-ettle!"
Other species included Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove,
Black-chinned and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Tree, Northern Rough-winged, Bank
and Barn Swallows, American Robins, European Starlings, a Yellow-rumped Warbler,
a female MacGillivray's Warbler, a pair of Wilson's Warblers, a
White-crowned Sparrow, Western Meadowlarks, Brown-headed Cowbirds, House
Finches, and American Goldfinches.
Here's one unexpected reason why I like Perry
Nature Park: As I walk around the overgrown paths and set up the
scope to peer into the marsh, I can't help but crush the
Peppermint plants that grow verdantly along embankments. It's a
refreshing experience to bird with the cool smell of Peppermint oil in the
air! In fact, the crushed Peppermint is quite the opposite of odors
we birders usually find in places like Great Salt Lake, landfills,
wastewater treatment lagoons...
To find your way to minty-fresh Dale Young Nature
Park, take I-15 to Exit 364 and turn east on US 91. You'll intersect Main
Street in Brigham City in about 2 miles. At this intersection, turn
south on US 89 and drive approximately 1.3 miles to 2250S. Turn right
(west). You'll find the park in 3-4 blocks on the south side of the
road. From Cache Valley and US 89/91, turn left (south) onto US 89 at the
Brigham City US 91/Main St intersection and follow the
directions above.
Kris
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