San Juan county birding trip

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

During the few years I've been birding I've never made a trip of any
substance to San Juan county. I'm not sure this makes any sense, since
San Juan county is more than twice the combined size of Weber, Davis,
Salt Lake, and Utah counties. It has all of the geographical variation
of these four counties to some extent, and in some cases more. Some of
these geographical zones are shared with adjacent states, meaning there
may be a somewhat higher likelihood of spotting certain unusual birds in
San Juan county than in other areas in the state, e.g.,  species such as
eastern meadowlark and scaled quail.

I based myself in Monticello and searched generally to the south and
east of town. During this brief trip I manged to visit each of the
following locations:
- Devil's Canyon campground
- Monticello
- Hickman Flats, northeat of Monticello
- Montezuma canyon
- Hatch's trading post
- Bluff
- Blanding
- Eastland and Lockerby
- Ucolo, Piute Springs, and Summit Point
- Lisbon Valley
- La Sal

Based on bird numbers and species, it seemed that fall migration is
probably winding down, even though in the lower elevations the
vegetation remains generally lush and green. 62 species were observed:

Eared Grebe
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Wild Turkey
American Coot
American Golden-Plover
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Dowitcher
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
Pinyon Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Lu Giddings


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