AUGUST MEETING:
Wednesday, August 18th.
UCB Summer Social
This year’s potluck dinner will be held
at 7:00 PM at Merrill Webb’s home in Orem.
The address is: 1063 East 400 North, Orem.
Dutch oven chicken will be provided along with corn on the cob AND potatoes and
tomatoes fresh from Merrill’s garden.
Bring a side dish (salads, jell-o, vegetables, etc.) or a dessert. Bring your
own utensils and plates –– cups will be provided.
Please RSVP to Merrill at (801) 224-6113. Wednesday, July 21st.
FIELD TRIPS:
Friday, August 20th - Half Day
River Lane
Meet at 7:00 AM at the Sam’s Club East Bay (Provo) parking lot.
Led by KC - 225-0625
Saturday, August 28th - Half Day
Lincoln & LeBarron Points - shorebirds.
Meet at 7:00 AM at the Sam’s Club East Bay (Provo) parking lot.
Led by KC - 225-0625
Reed’s Ramblings
by Reed Stone
With some favorable comments regarding my garden anchor, I will continue
using it as a vehicle for my observations.
I raise bell peppers for Jane. They are not my favorite food. Just the same they
are doing very well and look almost good enough to sample. We have been enjoying
tomatoes for some time. My neighbors now fear me because our zucchini is doing
so well. I am contemplating some late hour deliveries and deposit the zucchini
along with some peppers and tomatoes to ease the pain.
While the garden is doing well the birds are still around. Another pair of
mourning doves are building a nest. It may or may not be the same pair as
before. With the river being so low I am seeing spotted sandpipers and snowy
egrets foraging for food in the shallows. The hoards of house finches have
diminished. The Downies are still around to my great satisfaction.
Now contrary to what some of you may think, I don’t spend all of my time in the
garden! I do get out and around. The other day I took a young couple around the
Provo airport dike and we got 34 species in a fairly short time.. Among them
were four SANDHILL CRANES, one OSPREY and three SAGE THRASHERS. There were quite
a few PEEPS at Utah Lake State Park. And several species of waders.
I also garden for the birds. The berries are ripening on the Mountain Ash,
Hawthorne, Cotoneaster and they are still green on the Pyrocantha. My grapes are
far enough along that the birds are starting to take notice of them. Soon I must
cover them with a net. Since I have taken up wood carving I have included
searching and watching for interesting forms of carvable wood. I was in the
hills west of Elberta doing my thing when I flushed a setting MOURNING DOVE. I
don’t usually carry my camera. Because the nest was in a low bush I came back
the next day and took a picture of the two white eggs with a faint blue cast. I
have posted a note in my planner to get a picture of the young before they
fledge.
My tours are usually very early and often spur of the moment urges. They strike
often and without advanced warning. I have to work these tours in between visits
of our grandchildren and sometimes with them, as well as our sons and their
family vacations. I am sure many of you can relate to that. By now, I’m sure,
you understand the title of this news letter.
This time of the year is challenging because of the many juveniles. The swallows
are gathering in large mixed flocks near their choice feeding areas. AMERICAN
KESTRELS, in many cases appear in family groups. I suspect all migrants are
fattening up and getting conditioned for the long flight south. We rarely see
birds in pairs this late in the season. Most of the juveniles have fledged and
the family rearing bonds weaken as the young become able to make it on their
own.
Now is the time to brush up on juvenile plumage. The appearance of migrants out
of their regular flyways is always a possibility. Keep a keen eye open for
strays and keep on birding.
Birding Alaska by Cruise Ship
This is a report of my ten day Cruise aboard the ISLAND PRINCESS between Vancouver B.C. and Whittier, Alaska. and then by bus to Denali Natl. Park and back to Anchorage by train.
The ISLAND PRINCESS is 964 ft. long, 15 floors high, carries 2368 passengers, and 810 crew members. It has four swimming pools, 8 hot tubs, and more gym equipment than Gold’s Gym. There are exercise rooms, classrooms, computer rooms , 6 bars and casinos, theaters, tennis, giant chessmen, table tennis, bingo and many shopping areas and speciality shops. There are places I didn’t even find out about. Food aboard ship is fantastic. The average weight gain is between 7 and 12 pounds.
My first thought about this article was that it would be a complete joke--- Laughable. Who could bird from a cruise ship anyway?? Certainly not me. Not with my meager skills, and since I was the only birder on the ship I thought chances of getting a good look at anything were pretty slim at best. Cruise ships are not renowned bird spotting locations. Well, I wanted to try so I’ll tell you day by day how things went.
Day 1. Seattle to Vancouver. (From bus window) 1. Northwestern crow *, 2. Glaucous Gull.
Day 2. Open Ocean .. (Rainy and overcast all day) 3. Sooty shearwater *, 4. Leach’s Storm Petrel. *
Day 3. Ketchikan 5. Bald Eagle (100’s of them), 6. Raven (about as many of these). 7. Rock Pigeon On Cruise ship ...Inland Passage 8. Black Scoter, 9. White winged Scoter*, 10. Herring Gull, 11. Bonaparte’s Gull, 12. Glaucous Winged Gull * Also saw Porpoise, Dolphin, and Orca whales.
Day 4. Whale watch trip from Juneau 13. Marbled Murrelet*, 14. Surf Scoter, 15. Pigeon Guillemot *, 16. Mew Gull *, 17. Red Breasted Merganser, 18. Dark-Eyed Junco, 19. Mallard. Also saw Stellar Sea Lions, Humpback Whales, Orca Whales, Porpoise, and Seals.
Day 5. Skagway to Hanes,... Nature Cruise and Rain Forest Walk 20. Chestnut backed Chicadee*, 21 Hermit Thrush , 22. Stellar’s Jay, 23. Great Blue Heron , 24, Barn Swallow, 25. Common Loon, 26. Common Merganser.
Day 6. Cruising Glacier Bay 27 Black Legged Kittiwake *, 28. Tufted Puffin * (nests on rocks by glacier) , 29. Horned Puffin * (nests on rock also) , 30. Pelagic Cormorant.*
Day 7. Nothing new.
Day 8. Nothing new.
Day 9. Wildlife tour in Denali National Park 31. Gyrfalcon * (good, close look), 32. Willow Ptarmigan* (very close), 33. Black Billed Magpie, 34. Golden Eagle, 35 White-crowned Sparrow. Also saw Grizzly bear, Moose, Dall sheep, Caribou, and Wolf.
Day 10. Train from Denali to Anchorage 36. Trumpeter Swans with 7 Cygnets.
* Indicates a "lifer" for me. (15 of them). I must admit there was a naturalist on board part of the time who helped me with some identification, and land tour leaders knew what birds were around, so I think it is all legal.
It was a fantastic trip. I was shocked that I could find so many birds from a
cruise ship. I couldn’t I.D. the little birds on land because the bus goes too
fast to see them good enough , but it was much more successful as a birding
adventure than I had supposed it would be. I RECOMMEND IT.
The Latest from our Website:
At our web site, there are lots of things going on behind the scenes. Eric Huish is doing a great job on the state calendar, the monthly hotline reports, and other behind-the-scene stuff, besides doing a great job on the newsletter.
Weldon Whipple continues doing the behind-the-scene stuff that requires technical knowledge (Weldon has an amazing amount of that). He keeps the viruses and spam under control, keeps the birdnet, birdtalk and other list serves humming along (and has set up searchable archives for the hotlines), AND has developed a web site analysis program called "Urchin" which analyses the activities on the web site.
According to "Urchin" we’re getting around 600 visitors a day on the web site and some of them are from distant and obscure counties. Here’s the top 20 list of countries (and how many visits) in the last month or so (from 1 July to 8 Aug):
| 1. France 156 2. Netherlands 149 3. Canada 110 4. Germany 61 5. Australia 43 6. Brazil 39 7. United Kingdom 36 |
8. Japan 32 9. Belgium 31 10. Israel 31 11. Mexico 28 12. Singapore 28 13. Italy 25 14. China 22 |
15. Finland 18 16. Denmark 16 17. Austria 15 18. Hungary 12 19. Czech Republic 12 20. United Arab Emirates 12 |
Looks like 12 of the top 20 are from the hotbed of birding, Europe. A couple of surprises are Singapore and United Arab Emirates (That’s over by Qatar and Oman, in case you’re wondering). Actually, France in the number one position is a bit surprising. The past few months when I’ve checked, the Netherlands has been number one every time. I’m not sure what’s going on in France in the summertime, maybe they’re trying to turn their attention to something other than the "Tour de Lance," ah, "Tour de France." (Go USA!!).
A lot of new photos have been sent in to the web site this year (going on 300). Some of them are pretty exotic. The Purple Gallinule, the Upland Sandpiper and the recent White-tailed Ptarmigan pictures are pretty exotic even thought they ARE Utah birds.
Our web site is flying right along thanks to all of you who have contributed
e-mails to the hotlines, bird photos, place photos, place descriptions, etc.
There are a lot of things happening, un-noticed, in the background on the web
sites. Thanks to everyone who has helped out. ~ The Webmaster