Ouray NWR

[Alton Thygerson <thygerson at byu dot edu>]

July 2, 2004

My wife and I traveled to Ouray National Wildlife Rufuge (Uinta County)
Thursday (July 1) afternoon.  Nothing out of the ordinary was seen at
several birding stops in Wasatch and Duchesne Counties along Highway 40.
Ouray NWR proved to be a pleasant surprise during these drought conditions.
We birded Ouray for about an hour (7:00-8:00 pm).

Top birds were two American Bittern in the open with one in the well known
bittern poise of pointing its bill skyward, Black Terns, Great Egret (mixed
in with Snowy Egrets and Cattle Egret), Green Heron (not only seen but was
also making its distinctive "skyowk" call, and a large flock of Common
Nighthawks flying northward from their nesting/resting area on the Green
River toward alfalfa fields being irrigated.

For those doing the Utah County Birding Challenge for 2004, Ouray NWR is a
"one-stop-shop" type of place.  In a few minutes you can easily acquire the
needed birds for Uinta County.  A spotting scope is helpful for the Leota
Bottoms part of the Refuge (this is the only area we birded).  We had
intended on staying overnight in Vernal, but found the birds so quickly at
Ouray that we returned to Provo by 11:00 pm.

The report from the biologist at Ouray NWR, Diane Penttila, is helpful.

Alton Thygerson   

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