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I birded Lost Creek State Pond--oops, I mean Park,
in Morgan County this morning. The water is so low that sometimes I
couldn't see water at all while driving on the road along the southeast
thumb. I had hoped to see some early waterfowl, but I didn't see one bird
on the water's surface. Oh, well--plan B: All others.
On the way to the park I watched for Wild Turkeys
leaving their Box Elder tree roost along the road about 2 miles east of the
interstate. It was pretty easy, actually--they were already out of
the trees and in the road. I had to wait for them to get off the road
so I could pass. I counted 39 turkeys. Don't they know Thanksgiving
is coming and they should keep a lower profile?!?!? Maybe if I had
driven really fast, I could have been a birder and a hunter and done my holiday
grocery shopping all at the same time.
I popped over a rise to see a large, elongated
brown blob on the top of a power pole--a Golden Eagle. I began my approach
from about 200 yards out and continued to creep closer to get the most out of
each look without disturbing the bird. The weak sun had barely topped the
mountains and the light was enough to gild the feathers on the eagle's
head. The eagle turned and scanned the fields and sage and each
pointy feather on the back of its head looked like it was dipped in 14
karats. I took my last look from a distance of about 25 yards before
I drove past the pole. I guess the cautious approach worked.
The bird didn't bat an eye membrane and I watched it grow smaller in my
rear view mirror as I continued on to the
reservoir. Left of the dam and adjacent to the parking lot
there's a small thicket of junipers where I always expect to see Townsend's
Solitaires. There were at least two (isn't that an oxymoron--a pair of
Townsend's Solitaires?), plus American Robins, plus Mountain Bluebirds. It
was a mini-thrush extravaganza courtesy of the heavy crop of juniper
berries. I saw and heard several other Townsend's Solitaires during my
time in the park. They were both calling their regular, single-note
high-pitched squeak, and singing short thin warbled phrases.
I followed the call of two Black-capped Chickadees
and a stuttering Ruby Crowned Kinglet. They were just coming out of the
little thicket and had in tow...at least 20 BUSHTITS! Wow, what
cuties--gray fluff balls with tails. They swept through trees and
hawthorne bushes sounding like they were carrying a tiny, tiny chain, and
shaking and clinking the individual links together. I couldn't keep up
with them. They flowed out of the thicket and to single junipers in the
surrounding area, and then I lost them. I can't relay with words what a
special sighting this was for me. My county (Weber) has virtually no
pinyon-juniper habitat, so I must travel to see PJ birds. Don't
laugh--but I have seen exactly ONE Bushtit before today, and that was
at Kolob Canyon.
At the juniper grove or in the Lost Creek drainage
I also saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I blew the Sharpie's cover and it
ducked out of the grove to search for another place to set up its next
ambush. A Cooper's Hawk lazily harassed a flight of pigeons, a Belted
Kingfisher rattled, a Red-tailed stared, a Steller's Jay swooped, and a knot of
Box Elder trees next to the road hosted woodpecker day. Two female
Red-naped Sapsuckers and a male Downy Woodpecker picked, poked, and chased each
other. The sapsuckers absolutely did not care that I was standing next to
the side of the road 15 feet away from them and at eye-level.
On the way home I screeched to a halt near where
the road forks and goes back to the interstate or to Croydon. In a tall
dead tree next to Lost Creek, a stately mature Bald Eagle--first of the winter
season for me--perched and stared down into the water. When we talk about
harbingers of the coming season, I guess that snow-white head and tail can't
speak more clearly of the season's advance toward winter. I hope that
doesn't depress all you summer-lovers, because winter is raptor and
waterfowl season and we have much to look forward to!
Oh, and one more thing--no Ring-necked Gulls today;
he, he, he.
Lost Creek State Park is located about 12 miles
east of I-84 exit 111.
Kris
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