APRIL MEETING:
Wednesday, April 23rd.
Meet at 7:00 PM in the Bean Museum Auditorium on the BYU Campus.
FIELD TRIPS:
Upcoming Field Trips will be announced at the meeting
and posted on
ucbnet.
Reed's Ramblings
by Reed Stone
What a fantastic time of the year for birders. Migration is in full
swing.
There are new birds showing up almost daily. Color fazes are changing.
What
were, a few weeks ago, flocks of geese and ducks, are pairing up,
bobbing
their heads and stretching their necks. The mallards leave the water
searching for nesting places. The Redwing and Yellow Headed Black Birds
are
gathered into all male choirs.
While assisting some students with their identification of birds we
noted
many of their courtship performances. The Redwing Blackbird raises his
wing
patches so they smack you right in the eye. The cock Pheasant tilts his
back
toward the hen with the wing closest to her drooped down and the one
away is
held high so as to impress the "ladies" of his great beauty. The Canada
Goose will extend its neck foreword on the water in an apparent
submissive
posture.
The color changes are interesting to observe. The American Goldfinch
is
changing from its grayish winter "suit" to a striking bright yellow and
black one. The Eared Grebe is starting to show its golden ear patches.
On
the 29th of March 19 of us were privileged to observe the courtship
dance of
the Gunnison Sage Grouse. It was interesting to see the males with
their air
pouches fully inflated, their tail erect and fanned out charging at
each
other to impress others of their dominance. The females seem to ignore
the
goings on.
Some species are setting up house keeping. Ospreys are paired up.
Great
blue herons are checking out the nests. Great horned owls have been
incubating for some time now. The last few days I have been watching
robins
making a nest from my back window. I do hope I have tweaked your
interest.
May each of us take the time to drink in the beauty of nature and its
interesting performances.
***
A thought for the day. Some times people go birding to forget
things......
before they get very far they realize they did.
Where is it?
by Robin Tuck
OK, describe to me how to find the best place in Utah County to find
Lewis
Woodpeckers.
Periodically, I get asked this question and am always at a loss,
because I
don’t know how to describe some of the intersections so that an
out-of-towner could find them. Its even worse if I have to do it in a
hundred words or less.
There are solutions to this dilemma, but they take money and effort,
commodities we are often short of. Of course, I am talking about
birders
purchasing and using a Global Positioning System device or GPS and
sharing
bird sighting information using latitude and longitude coordinates.
I understand that my love of gizmos and electronic toys tends to
cloud my
vision, but I believe it is time for all birders to seriously consider
purchasing a GPS and learn how to use it. We have all seen how accurate
GPS
units have made the military operations in Iraq safer for the civilian
population and more deadly for those targeted. We can have this same
accuracy in the palm of our own hand, both for directing others and
being
directed by others.
You all know by now that GPS units use very accurate atomic clocks in
satellites orbiting the earth to calculate where they are. There are 24
satellites in use at any one time, although there are ‘spares’
available in
orbit should they be needed. GPS units have to receive and decode
signals
from 3 satellites to calculate where they are on the earth’s surface.
To
calculate altitude, 4 satellite signals are needed. Note that altitude
calculations are about 3 times less accurate than the
latitude/longitude
calculations, partly due to the bulge around the equator.
GPS devices determine the latitude and longitude of where they are
very
quickly. If they are moving, they calculate a series of
latitude/longitude
points, making a ‘track’ of where they have been. Some GPS devices have
built-in maps where they display the path they followed. If you want,
you
can save a location as a ‘waypoint’ and have the GPS guide you back to
it at
a later time. Additionally, you may manually enter a waypoint and have
the
GPS guide you to it even if you have never been to that place before.
GPS devices can be connected to computers and have saved waypoints
and
tracks displayed on maps, and can have locations and trails copied from
the
map back into the GPS.
Of course, all this isn’t cheap. GPS devices cost from $110 to over a
thousand, depending on the capabilities you want to have. My GPS cost
about
$250 and has all the features I need, including maps of almost the
entire
world. I like it’s portability and utility. I don’t like how hard it is
to
enter information into it, but small size has its trade-offs.
The most common brands are Garmin and Magellan, both quite good. I
have
had my Garmin E-trex Legend for almost 2 years and use it quite often.
There
are a number of Internet sites that compare the features of the
different
models to help you choose what you ought to buy. There are many videos
and
books that teach how to use GPS devices and get the most from them.
I believe each birder should purchase a GPS and learn how to use it,
keeping it with her binoculars ready for any trip outside.
By the way, the Lewis Woodpeckers are at N40° 3' 23" W111° 38' 41" in
degrees, minutes and seconds. Unfortunately, that is not how most GPS
units
display the location; most use degrees and minutes as in N40° 3.379'
W111°
38.680'.
Utah State Breeding Bird Atlas?
by Robin Tuck
Jim Parrish, the Avian Coordinator for the Utah State Division of
Wildlife
Resources, spoke to the Utah County Birders at their March meeting and
mentioned the need for a Utah Breeding Bird Survey.
In order to evaluate if this would be a good project for the Utah
County
Birders to participate in, we need to know what a Breeding Bird Atlas
is and
what having one will do for us.
In summary, a Breeding Bird Atlas documents the current status and
distribution of breeding bird species within the state, published as a
permanent record. The atlas accomplishes the following objectives:
1. Survey the state for evidence of breeding during the appropriate
seasons
for all bird species using survey techniques that can be duplicated 20
to 50
years in the future and that will provide a baseline against which
future
changes can be measured.
2. Classify and map the breeding evidence for each species using a set
of
codes based upon observable criteria for territorial, breeding,
nesting, and
rearing behaviors.
3. Gather current information on the relative abundance, timing of
breeding,
and habitat selection of all breeding birds.
4. Organize data from breeding observations into a series of maps (an
atlas)
that show the breeding occurrence, distribution, and abundance of each
species within a grid of uniform blocks covering the state.
A Breeding Bird Atlas will benefit us by providing the following:
1. Provide accurate and up-to-date information on the breeding
occurrences,
so that conservation planning and land-use decisions can adequately
address
any needs of special breeding bird species.
2. Provide a major scientific reference for applications in public
policy,
education, recreation, and research.
3. Introduce local birders to a new and exciting way of birding, which
at
the same time contributes valuable information to a large statewide
ornithological effort.
4. Provide a coordinated and cooperative project that will bring bird
enthusiasts together.
Over 40 of our neighboring states and provinces are currently
building an
atlas or have completed theirs. New York has even started its second
atlas
project.
We propose the Utah County Birders begin a pilot project to build a
Breeding Bird Atlas of Utah County to determine the unique elements of
surveying and reporting breeding birds in Utah. We have the opportunity
to
borrow methods and procedures form neighboring states, but will benefit
from
running a trial adjusted to our land and people.
Please ponder this proposal and come to the April meeting with your
opinions and suggestions.
(Portions of this article were adapted from the New Mexico Breeding
Bird
Atlas project web site.)
Birding in Bed
by Eric Huish
My bed is one of my favorite places to bird. My own personal hotspot
with
a nice comfortable place to sit. I’ve got thistle, sunflower, and
peanuts
just a foot outside my window that brings in finches, chickadees, jays
and
more closer then I could see them anywhere else.
Just last week I found out that if I set my scope up across my bed
and
open my window, Between some houses I can see the Osprey nest south of
the
Linden Boat Harbor, the large nesting colony of California Gulls on the
gravel hill East of the boat harbor and a section of the Geneva cooling
ponds. (This is all about 2 miles away but I can make out a few birds
and
it is the only angle I can see the gull colony from.)
This morning being Sunday I decided to open my window, sit in bed and
do
some birdwatching. I saw or heard 16 species- Canada goose, Mallard,
Osprey, Ring-necked Pheasant, California Quail, California Gull, Rock
Dove,
Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, European Starling, Red-winged
Blackbird, House Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, Lesser
Goldfinch,
and House Sparrow. Other species I have seen in the past week or so
from bed
include- American White Pelican, Turkey Vulture, American Kestrel,
Western
Screech-owl, and Scrub Jay.
You don’t have to see any birds to bird from bed. My favorite bed
birding
is just listening. That way I can lay down with my eyes closed. In
spring
there is always birdsong in the morning. Today it was a Red-winged
Blackbird, Robins, House Finches, and Lesser Goldfinches. Last month
it was
a Spotted Towhee and White-crowned Sparrows.
Tomorrow when your alarm clock goes of, hit snooze, open you window,
lay
back down, and go birding.