Lytle Ranch.

["William J. Hunter" <william4 at sisna dot com>]

Hi all.

Last week Charlie Sheard and I made plans to go to Lytle Ranch
yesterday. As luck would have it, Rick Fridell and others went on
Sunday, so Charlie and I had our "Focus List" in hand as we arrived
about 7:15am. We departed at 2pm. We knew we were in for an excellent
day when the first bird was a male Lazuli Bunting. In our case there
seemed to be high numbers of individuals, especially Ash-throated
Flycatchers, Lark Sparrows and Green-tailed Towhees. Remember this is
the day after the 80mph winds down here in St. George. Here is a list of
birds:

Black-crowned Night Heron: At the small pond.
Osprey: Good views as it soared south and then north over us while we
were still adjacent to the parking lot.
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 3, two appeared to be a mated pair.
Cooper's Hawk: nesting
Common Black-Hawk: 2, nesting. At first just a "cry" and a brief
glimpse. Then both rose above the trees for excellent views. But it gets
better. Shortly they "light" into a Red-tailed Hawk, which was above our
heads, and literally drive it away. Then one returns to the trees and
the other soars so high in the sky as to be hardly visible and then
heads north. In all, just magnificent views of a very rare bird(s) in
Utah.
Red-tailed Hawk: 6
American Kestrel
Ring-necked Pheasant
Gamble's Quail
Killdeer
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
White-throated Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird: 5+
Rufous Hummingbird: 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Gray Flycatcher: 4
Cordillian Flycatcher: 3
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher: 20+. Try as we could, we could not turn any of
them into a Brown-crested Flycatcher
Cassin's Kingbird: 2
Western Kingbird: 20+
Bell's Vireo
Gray Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Western Scrub-Jay: 5
Common Raven
Northern rough-winged Swallow
Verdin: 30+
Bewick?s Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: 9
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher: 5
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing: 20+
Phainopepla: 15+
Lucy's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler: Audubon?s
Wilson's Warbler
Green-tailed Towhee: 13
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow: 15+
Black-throated Sparrow: 10+
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Bullock's Oriole
Scott's Oriole
Cassin's Finch
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch: 20+
House Sparrow

...Merrill, you need to get down here!

And to top it all off. I get home, read Rick's message on the Vaux Swift
and go to dinner. Come home and there's this Swift bearing down on me
about 10' off the ground. It swerves and goes behind the house... you
all ready know don't cha?! Yep. But without Rick's post, I might have
just shrugged it off. I watched A Vaux Swift fly up and down the 11th
fairway here, giving me all kinds of views for about 5 minutes. The
third lifer of the day.

Cheers!
Bill Hunter
SunRiver-St. George