Field Trip:

Dennis Shirley's
"One-Hundred-Species Day"
31 May 2003
  

This was the third annual "one hundred species in one day" event lead by Dennis Shirley.  This year we concentrated more on getting some of the harder-to-find birds, but still made it to the one hundred mark (113 species for the group).

Places visited: Provo Airport Dike, Bridal Veil Falls, South Fork of Provo Canyon, Salem Pond, Loafer Canyon, Payson Canyon, Mona Reservoir area, Goshen Canyon, and the fields north of Goshen.

The highlights birds of the trip were (in order of appearance): Great-tailed Grackle, Osprey, Least Tern, Common Yellowthroat, Gray Catbird, Swainson's Thrush, Band-tailed Pigeon, Common Grackle, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Cooper's Hawk, Hermit Thrush, Townsends Solitaire, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Fox Sparrow, McGillivray's Warbler, Hammonds Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Pinion Jay,  Bobolink, Short-eared Owl, Sandhill Crane and Common Nighthawk.

Here are some photos taken on the field trip:

 Jones' Ranch in Payson Canyon.
  
Jones' Ranch:
The leader, Dennis Shirley
(standing, in the white shirt).
Jones' Ranch:
The main part of the group
finding a McGillivray's Warbler --
or a Broad-tailed Hummingbird.
Jones' Ranch:
The "Queen of the Birders" in her royal chariot.
Salem Pond:
The Eurasian Collared-Dove, showing its collar.
Loafer Canyon:
"Tail Tail" signs of a Cooper's Hawk
(on a nest)
Jones' Ranch:
The battle of the "Broad-tails"
Jones' Ranch:
The "King of the Hill"
Payson Canyon:
Spotted Sandpiper in a wetlands area
just below Payson Lakes
Fox Sparrow in the same wetlands
as the Spotted Sandpiper (above).

There were about nine vehicles involved, joining and leaving, during the course of the day.  The birders in the four vehicles that completed the "Marathon," ended up in the fields north of Goshen looking at Bobolinks, a Short-eared Owl, a Sandhill Crane and a Common Nighthawk as the sun set in the West.

The End

Photos by Milt Moody  İMilton G. Moody