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WINGS tour in Utah

Saturday, June 26

Dear Birders,

Yesterday morning was the official end of my Colorado & Utah tour, my
6th time leading it. I thought I would give a quick summary of the
highlights from the Utah portion of the tour.

On the 21st we arrived in Vernal from Grand Junction, CO and birded
that evening at Pelican Lake and Ouray NWR. There were plenty of birds
to be seen, but nothing outstanding. We did see at least two AMERICAN
BITTERNS at Leota Bottom of the NWR, as well as single GREAT EGRET and
SNOWY EGRET. It's the sort of place that you'd need more than just 30
minutes to bird to find some of the harder stuff--there were lots and
lots of birds there.

On the 22nd we birded the morning at Dinosaur National Monument, but
our attempts to reach Josie's Cabin were stymied by a hopelessly lost
truck driver who had gotten his huge semi stuck in the one-lane dirt
track just 100 yards before the parking area. Can you believe he was
trying to get to Hwy 191 north of Vernal? We were able to call 911 on a
cell phone and get a Sheriff to come out and help him arrange for a
wrecker. I wasn't too happy to have to miss Josie's Cabin and the
gorgeous canyons there--in all my tours here our picnic breakfast in
this amazing setting always ranks as one of the non-bird highlights of
the tour for a few participants. We ended up just birding the riparian
strip along the petroglyph drive, where a flock of 7 RED CROSSBILLS
flying over was a very odd sight. I was able to quickly play tape for
them (iPod), and they turned around and landed over our heads; I was
able to get some digiscoped images of one. I don't know how many miles
it is to the closest pine tree, but it isn't close.

On the 23rd we drove up to the Bald Mountain Pass area of the Uinta
Mountains where we eventually had stunning views of a male BLACK
ROSY-FINCH a short ways up the steep, rocky trail to the northwest of
the parking area. We worked really hard for Williamson's Sapsucker and
Northern Pygmy-Owl the rest of the day without any success, but we
added a few more trip birds such as GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, BROWN
CREEPER, and SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, and there were some fun butterflies,
such as GRIZZLED SKIPPER, CHRYXUS ARCTIC, and FIELD CRESCENT. Watching
the muddled juncos was a nice lesson in why the Dark-eyed complex won't
be split soon.

Our last day, the 24th, we birded for over an hour at the North Arm
Nature Area of Pineview Reservoir east of Ogden. The place was alive
with birdsong, including lots of GRAY CATBIRDS and "SLATE-COLORED" FOX
SPARROWS, both LESSER and AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, and a single SWAINSON'S
THRUSH. But we missed the Calliope Hummingbird(s) that had been here,
and in their place were at least two BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS. I
wonder if they have moved in as post-breeders and pushed the calliopes
out. The monsoon has been going strong in the mountains of northern
Mexico and is probably ripe for the swarms of post-breeding hummers.
Later that day we drove around Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, which
is always one of my favorite areas of the tour, even though trying to
come up with species totals at the end of the day gives me a headache.
There were incredible numbers of CLARK'S GREBES (I guesstimated 600
Clark's and 200 Western), at least 3 GREAT EGRETS, and 3 GREATER
YELLOWLEGS. We also drove out to Antelope Island where a family of
SNOWY PLOVERS (including two tiny puffballs), three LONG-BILLED
CURLEWS, and two very out-of season female RED-NECKED PHALAROPES were
the highlights along the causeway (we had seen Chukar in Colorado five
days earlier). Finally, we were treated to BAND-TAILED PIGEONS with a
generous invitation to Deedee and Dick O'Brien's feeders near Millcreek
Canyon.

Good Birding,

Rich
---
Rich Hoyer, Tucson Arizona
Senior Field Leader, WINGS, http://www.wingsbirds.com

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