Henefer lek and East Canyon Reservoir

[drintoul at ksu dot edu]

Greetings,

Well, Utah birding is certainly unique in my experience. I can't ever
recall hearing the ploinking and squawking of Greater Sage Grouse as
well as the wailing of Common Loons within a 5-mile stretch of road,
but that happened to me this morning!

The Greater Sage Grouse lek at the Morgan/Summit line on highway 65 had
about 40-50 birds this morning, including one unfortunate casualty who
apparently was not successful in avoiding the vehicles on that highway.
I assume that his place in the lek hierarchy was soon taken by another
testosterone-crazed bird; there were at least two males displaying in
the center of the road most of the morning. Lots of females were also
present, and I did witness one brief mating, but for the most part the
females seemed content to just watch the spectacle.

Further up the road, I counted 35 Common Loons, two Western Grebes, and
a dozen or so Sandhill Cranes shared East Canyon Reservoir with three
fishermen. Most of the loons were in breeding plumage, and one pair
displayed to one another and called a couple of times. It was even more
eerie than usual to hear that call in that red-rock canyon...

I took highway 66 north to Morgan, saw a few more Sandhill Cranes and a
couple of coyotes as well as a Golden Eagle. The heron rookery west of
I-84 between the two Henefer exits is quite active, with lots of birds
on nests and on alert in the trees. And when I got back to my temporary
home here in Summit Park, a flock of Evening Grosbeaks greeted me as I
stepped out of the vehicle. A pretty good morning of birding, for sure!

Cheers

Dave


David A. Rintoul                mailto:drintoul@ksu.edu
Biology Division - KSU          Manhattan KS 66506-4901
Currently on sabbatical leave at the University of Utah

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