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Pomera Fronce and I enjoyed wonderful birding in
Rich County Friday. We saw most of the species that Pomera reported
earlier in the week. I was really impressed with the beauty of Bear River
Meadows, this being my first visit. I made another stop on the way
home--Birch Creek Reservoirs on UT 39 west of Woodruff between mm 61 and
60. Why? Because it's there...because I might
see birds...because I couldn't stop myself from birding.
I was very pleased that the Yellow-breasted Chat
singing when I arrived popped out of a thick willow, pooched out his bulgy
throat feathers, and "churred" and "burred" and
"reeeped" at me. He was only about 15 feet away in dead branches
at the top of the shrub. Other birds seen or heard at this spot--the
willow and hawthorne-choked west end of the old reservoir--included Yellow
Warblers, Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows and American Robins.
A Mountain Bluebird and Violet-green Swallows
landed on scrub or dead branches high above me in the canyon, and several
Rock Wrens sang from the red rock or made short flights to new
perches. Green-tailed Towhees also frolicked and sang in the sage and
greasewood, and the Brewer's Sparrows got a buzz on as they sang their odd
song.
Ever wonder where the Ring-billed Gulls go
in summer? Well, upper Birch Creek Reservoir, for one. The
Ring-billed was the surprising and only gull species I saw here--about a dozen
or so along the shoreline of the new reservoir. Also along the shore, I
saw several Killdeer and several very active, fluttering Spotted Sandpipers
("DoWEE-DoWEE-DoWEE-DoWEE!"). A couple Double-crested Cormorants
fished and one stood on the shore, faced the western sun, and
dried its wings as it looked like a string of black feathers
hanging from a coat hanger. Mother Mallard led her newly-hatched
brood of nine away from the shore as I approached, and Northern Rough-winged and
Tree Swallows swooped over the water. The
odd-ball audible record of the afternoon was the Golden Eagle flying over the
reservoir repeatedly screaming, "EeeYYYYaw!
EeeYYYYaw!"
Finally, I saw a Northern Flicker perched high
up on a rock and I heard a Broad-tailed Hummer pass overhead.
Birch Creek Reservoirs makes a short, on-the-way
birding spot, as opposed to a final destination. The unimproved road to
the reservoirs is a mile long, and is suitable for passenger cars.
Kris
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