Sanpete, Sevier, and Millard Counties

[Bruce & Lynn Robinson <dbruce at prodigy dot net>]

On my way to Redmond this morning (Lynn's semi-annual weeklong visit with her sister) I did a little birding.

Near Gunnison I saw a Ferruginous Hawk that was surveying the area, looking for a mid morning brunch.

At Redmond Reservoir was a single pelican.  A quick check of the checklist informed me that the American Pelican is a Common Summer resident.  Hurray!!!!  Winter must be OFFICIALLY over!!!!  Oh, then I noticed the fine print, "Occasional Winter".

My next stop was at Maple Grove campground (just off the highway between Salina/Scipio).  The white stuff on the ground and the flakes falling from the sky confirmed that the Redmond Pelican was of the "Occasional Winter" variety. 

I thought that "Solitaire" meant "single, one, uno, ein".  At Maple Grove, Townsend's Solitaire must mean "four", as that is how many I saw there.  Unfortunately, there was not a lot of other birding activity, other than a couple of robins and chickadees.  I had the whole campground to myself.  I guess the locked gates and snow discouraged all the normal campers.

At Scipio Reservoir were several flotilla's of "Mile Away Ducks" and "Try to ID the Dabbling Duck by the Upturned Tails".  I finally gave up after ID'ing a few of the common and expected species, and decided to concentrate on the many Canadian Gooses that were there, hoping to find some tagged gooses that I could submit and get their familial history.  None of these must have been hatched at Farmington Bay as there was not a single tagged/collared Canadian Goose there.

Aside from the flurries at Maple Grove, the weather was beautiful and it felt GOOOOOD to be outside!!!

Ain't Birding Great!!!  
Bruce Robinson
Still looking for the Eskimo Curlew!