Harris Sparrow

I went out birdwatching today around the Springville area. My first stop was at the silage pit that Dennis found, or knew about. There was already a birding couple there that told me they had seen the sparrow. Right after they left a Loggerhead Shrike flew in and scattered all the birds. Next the farmer who's feed is in the silage pit was using his tractor to take some feed out. While he was in between the Loggerhead Shrike kept flying in. Finally the Shrike pinned a House Sparrow and left. The farmer was finished, and he had surfaced some fresh hot feed. Within minutes dozens of sparrows hopped in to feed. I saw the Harris Sparrow after about an hours wait. It was well worth it, and very beautiful. Also in the area were a pair of Bald Eagles.

I then went and checked the ponds on the North Springville exit road, I believe it is 1400 north and Mountain Springs Parkway. In the series of ponds and canals I saw several species of ducks, Eared and Pied-billed Grebes and several Wilson's Snipe and a couple American Pipits. There were tons of Shovlers and Common Goldeneye, with many species of ducks mixed in for good measure.

I then went to go look for the Yellowlegs that Milt, Tuula and Leena found. I found them at the East Bay pond. They were near the reeds where the water enters. There were about 25 Yellowlegs there, both Greater and Lesser. Also Common Snipe. There were hundreds of Canada Geese on the golf course, but they kept moving, so I was unable to tell if there were any Greater White Fronted Geese, or Snow or Ross's Geese. They may be there with all those Geese though. All together I saw around 40 species for the day. It was a great day to be out. I couldn't believe that the sun was out for a change.

KC Childs