Daweena has left the building...

["Dave Rintoul" <drintoul at ksu dot edu>]

Greetings

I took a trip up to Beus Park in Ogden today to try to photograph a Western
Screech-owl for which Kris Purdy had given me directions. I easily found the
nest tree (great directions, Kris!), but the owl was unavailable this
morning. So I headed out to Antelope Island again for the morning, since it
looked a lot more sunny and promising than yesterday.

At the Garr Ranch I found Jack Binch (but not Heidi Klum, alas), so we
birded a while together. He called out a Virginia Rail, but that little
skulker never showed well enough for a photograph to be made. I also found
at least three long-eared owl nestlings when I looked up into a cottonwood
and saw a pair of eyes looking back at me! The owls are on the south side of
the boggy area east of the ranchhouse. I presume that they are the owlets
from the nest near the restrooms; all of the orange "crime-scene tape" has
been removed from that area since yesterday.

Other birds seen were

Hermit Thrush
Swainson's Thrush (seen by me but not by Jack)
MacGillivray's Warbler (seen by Jack but not by me)
Western Wood-pewee
Say's Phoebe
Cordilleran Flycatcher
Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warbler
Gray Flycatcher
Black-headed Grosbeak

A willet was also seen alongside the road leading to the ranch, and I spent
some time trying to get images of California Gulls and their reflections in
the glass-smooth Great Salt Lake. Mosquitoes have started to replace the
midges on the causeway. Two drake Cinnamon Teal, who obviously have not
heard of Amendment 3, were swimming together south(east) of the causeway.

It was great to see Jack; he and Bob Huntington were the first two Utah
birders I met and we all had a great trip to Alta to see Rosy-finches back
in January. I don't know if all Utah birders are as helpful and friendly as
Jack and Bob, but I haven't met an exception yet. You have a great group of
birders out here, and I appreciate all of the ones that I met (both in
person and via email)!

Bird images added to the website today include the aforementioned phoebe,
hermit thrush, owlets, gull reflections, and pewee, as well as a
not-so-sharp image of the Hammond's Flycatcher from yesterday. I did shoot
one picture before the bird took off, but the flash had not fully recharged
so the image was very dark. The magic of Photoshop was able to resurrect it,
and so that image is available along with the others at

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~drintoul/sabbatical_images/utahbirds.htm

And a "before-and-after" set of images of Frary Peak, showing the snow
yesterday and the sunny green slope today, can be seen at the URL

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~drintoul/sabbatical_images/utahscenery.htm

It is amazing what a difference a day makes out here, as I'm sure you all
know quite well!

Cheers

Dave


Dave Rintoul                                <drintoul at ksu dot edu>
Biology Division - KSU                           ICBM: 39.18N, 96.34W
Manhattan KS 66506-4901                             VOX: 785-532-6615 
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~drintoul/              FAX: 785-532-6653
Currently on sabbatical at the University of Utah

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