Fruitful Birding at Strawberry

["Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast dot net>]

I spent the last day or two at Strawberry Reservoir in Wasatch 
County--mostly around Strawberry Bay Recreation Complex.  "Best" bird of 
the trip was the only migrant species I saw during limited birding--a 
flock of BLACK TERNS in highly variable pied plumage, flying low over 
the water near the shore at dusk; dipping, wheeling, erratic in flight.  


The campground is OVERRUN with Mountain Bluebirds and Brewer's Sparrows. 
 Hats off to the folks who maintain the extensive line of bluebird boxes 
in this area.  Your work is obviously paying dividends.  We also enjoyed 
visits from Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows at the breakfast table--not 
your normal yard birds.  

In addition to those species mentioned above, I also saw:

Canada Goose (placed first on this list both because of the goose's 
taxonomy and in deference to Bruce)
Mallard
Eared Grebe (still nesting, I believe)
Western and Clark's Grebes (still dancing and calling their metallic:  
"Doo-deed-LEE!" all night--my kids just wanted them to shut up)
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Swainson's Hawk (more of these than Red-tails; a nice change)
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sora (an adult at water's edge being followed by three little scurrying 
black chicks that looked like little rats; sorry to the Soras)
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher (a surprise pair; the area where we were doesn't 
offer great shorebird habitat)
California and Ring-billed Gulls
Caspian Tern
Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds
Red-naped Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-pewee
Western Kingbird
Common Raven
Tree, Bank, and Cliff Swallows
American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrows
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Pine Siskin
and lots of pink plastic flamingoes at the campsites of the long-time RV 
enthusiasts.

Kris


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