OCTOBER MEETING:
Wednesday Oct. 22nd
Meet at 7:00 PM in the Bean Museum Auditorium on the BYU Campus.
Advanced Master Gardner Lyle Jenkins will speak to us about Edible Landscaping
FIELD TRIPS:
Sat. Oct. 25th.
Sat. Nov. 15th.
Meet at 8:00 AM at the Orem Center St. commuter parking lot. Destinations
to be announced
2003 PROVO CBC:
Mark your calendars. The Provo Christmas Bird Count will be held on
Saturday, December 20th.
Reed's Ramblings
by Reed Stone
Yesterday October 8, 2003 I decided to scout for some productive birding areas.
Some BYU students had called for some help locating their 75 birds for their
Appreciation of Nature class. I pretty well knew what was on the airport dike so
I decided to try some of the more productive birding locations.
The first location was the area north of Goshen that usually is fairly
productive. I located one Harrier and the usual Starlings and one Vesper
Sparrow. I drove to the Secret Pond area where the first pond is dry and the
second was covered with moss. There were no birds, not even a Killdeer. I
continued on up through Goshen Canyon. It produced one song sparrow. I then went
to Mona Reservoir which produced a fair amount of birds. Canada Goose, Coot,
Killdeer, Mallards, Gadwall, Snowy Egret and some ducks I could not identify
because of the distance and light distortions. The ducks and geese are pretty
cautious because of the hunting season being open. I drove on to Burriston
Ponds. At the ponds I located one Pied Billed Grebe and one Northern Harrier. I
returned along the frontage road back toward Santiquin. Along the road I saw one
Red Tailed, two Swainson’s and one Ferruginous hawk. At Spring Lake I was
surprised to see a hunting Osprey, Gadwalls, Mallards and Coot. Salem pond was
about the same with Mallards, Coot and Pied Billed Grebe. Salem Pond is in
bloom, Algae Bloom. The bloom may be repelling some species. I find it hard to
believe but I saw one, only one, Kestrel on the whole trip. I may be going
blind.
Although this is usually "drought" time for birding I think it is a little less
productive because of the lack of moisture. Plants that are usually green at
this time of year are dry. This effects the production of insect food. It is
also warmer than usual. The warm conditions may be delaying the departure time
for our northern visitors.
Birding is still fun and interesting just the same. Now seems to be a good time
to bird the high mountain areas.
*** Rib Tickler--- The reason they did not play cards on Noah's Arc is because
Noah sat on the deck.
UOS Fall Conference: