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The 2022 Birding Challenge

Prinout with the details
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BIRD OF THE MONTH:
    

                         Greater Roadrunner
  
                                         (Geococcyx californianus)

                                   Text by Jeremy Telford
                                Photos by Nichole Telford
 

Meep Meep! The Greater Roadrunner is steeped in lore, from Acme explosions to sacredly shaped footprints. It was also, until a week ago, as much my nemesis bird as I imagine it still is to Wile E Coyote.
      The Greater Roadrunner is part of the Cuckoo bird family that is more famous for hanging out in clocks and imposing its eggs on unsuspecting parents. Unlike some other Cuckoo species the Greater Roadrunner raises its own young. The male gathers the sticks, twigs, and leafy matter and the female arranges it into a nest either in a tree, bush, or on a cactus. If the male takes too long to gather the materials or gets distracted the female emits a whining call reminding him to get back to work. The resulting nest is typically 17 inches in diameter and 8 inches thick, dipping to 4 inches thick in the center.
      Roadrunners are voracious eaters. They eat, among other things, lizards, insects, some fruit and seeds, centipedes, mice, and young ground squirrels. They will also eat other birds like baby quail, sparrows, and they can even jump vertically and snatch hummingbirds out of the air. They also go after venomous prey that other predators avoid, like rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas. They will even eat snakes that are too large for them to swallow, running around with the tail sticking out of their mouth until their stomach’s have dissolved enough for them to swallow the rest.

            Though roadrunners prefer to run along the ground they can fly short distances. Roadrunners can run a constant 15 miles per hour and can have short bursts faster than that when pursuing prey maxing out at about 26 miles per hour. Unfortunately a coyote has a top speed of 43 miles per hour and that is without rockets and roller-skates.
      Roadrunners are well adapted for their desert environments. Roadrunners have a gland just in front of the eye from which they excrete salt, this uses much less water than urinating for removing excess salts. They also get much of their water from eating water rich prey like lizards. Also they have a featherless patch on their chin called a gular which they can flutter to dissipate heat.
      Like some of the other birds in the cuckoo family, the Greater Roadrunner is a zygodactyl bird. This is not a type of prehistoric reptile. Instead it means that they have four toes and that two of its toes face forward and two face backward. This gives them a unique ‘X’ shaped footprint. Pueblo tribes thought this shape sacred and that it would ward off evil spirits. Since the x is the same shape from any direction the evil spirits wouldn’t know what direction to travel to try and follow.
      There is a legend about the rivalry between the rattlesnake and the roadrunner among the Tejas. The rattlesnake was the official messenger of the Great Spirit bringing messages to wise men of the native tribes. No animal or person dared stand in its way due to its venomous nature. The roadrunner knew it could run much faster than the snake. One day it overheard the Great Spirit giving the rattlesnake a message. Seizing its chance the roadrunner rushed ahead, delivered the message, and enlisted the aid of the wise native to become a messenger permanently. The Great Spirit was both impressed and annoyed. Impressed at the speed of the delivery, but annoyed that the roadrunner would eavesdrop on a private conversation. In the end the Great Spirit used the roadrunner but only for unimportant messages. The rattlesnake was still angry. It sought out the roadrunner’s nest and ate its young. When the roadrunner discovered what had happened it sought out the snake’s young and returned the favor. From then on the bird nested off of the ground and has always looked both ways when returning home to make sure it had not been followed.
      It is easy to see how this lively bird could spark the imagination of so many cultures and be the source for many stories and legends. It was a pleasure to see not one, but three and check it onto my life list last month. Seriously, I may have teared up a little. And although it is no longer my nemesis bird it is still on my short list of birds to always look for when I am in their habitat and probably will be for very long time.


https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/greater-roadrunner
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/04/tejas-legends-paisano-hater-of.html
  
  
  
       [See past Bird of the Month articles] 
  

     Monthly Meeting Report

                 by Keeli Marvel
  

Eight birders met for our bird walk/July meeting on Tuesday and we had a great walk along the west end of the North Shore Utah Lake trail. Highlights from our walk included seeing newly fledge great horned owlets, western wood-pewees and warbling vireo, Caspian terns, the resident marmots, and getting great looks at a pair of Eastern Kingbirds that have returned to nest along the trail. We ended up with around 26 species for the evening. I didn’t get any pics of the group, but it was a beautiful evening and thanks to everyone who joined us!

                      New Species for Utah

                                               by Milt Moody
  

On June 21st, Adam Zahm discovered an Alder Flycather at Little Dell Reservoir.  This species had never been officially documented in the state before, although there was a very well-written report in September 2016 at the Salt Lake International Center that unfortunately didn't include an audio recording.  Because the Alder Flycatcher is part of the Empidonax group of flycatchers, which look very similar to each other, an audio recording is often needed to  confirmation  the ID.  This latest sighting was thoroughly reviewed  but  easily accepted by the Records Committee since there were at least seven audio recordings, two official sight records, and numerous photos, from many observers over a three-day period.  Overwhelming evidence!

So we have a new species on our Utah State Checklist.  This makes 462 species on the checklist itself and with the seven species that are on the Provisional Species List, that makes 469 species that have sight records that have been accepted for Utah.

The Alder Flycatcher joints a list of First State Records that has grown by 20 birds in the last 10 years and an astounding 50 species in the last 20 years..  This may be due to more birders, more capable cameras and better access to audio recording equipment. So judging from the 30 species on the  Unverified Species List, which have records submitted but none accepted, we can probably expect many more to come in the future.
 

On Thursday July 28th 16 birders met at Walmart in Payson and headed south to Nephi to start a evening of owling. We started on the Juab side of the Nebo Scenic Loop. Our first birds were Common Nighthawk and Western Wood Pewee. We then had a Great Horned Owl fly over the road in front of us and land in a tree. It was calling and put on a beautiful show. Next stop was along Salt Creek, we had a couple Flammulated Owls calling. But we never did get a look at them, but it sure is fun to hear them. Although some of the calls will send chills down your spine in the dark. We worked our way up the loop and found a couple more Flammies calling. We could also hear a Northern Saw Whet Owl We were all so excited to finally get to see it!! We also saw a huge ugly spider. Yikes!
Up the road we went, we stopped and heard more Flammulated Owls, same story we never got a look.
Our last stop was Beer Can Flats we tried for Common Poorwill with no luck but did have 3 Western Screech Owls calling. It was a fun night! We finished a little after 1:00 am. I'm sure everyone slept in on Friday.

Happy birders!

Mule Deer-Price Recreation Area

We got up early and headed up highway 6 to Emery and Carbon County.

Our first spot was Desert Lake in Emery County. We saw 27 species there! It was really dry but we managed to find some great birds. Our best was definitely a pair of Blue Grosbeaks! We also saw lots of Canada Geese, Vesper and Lark Sparrows, a lone American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, Western Kingbird, Common Raven, and a Northern Mockingbird. Other birds to note were Eurasion-collard Doves, Western Meadowlark Red-winged and a Yellow-headed Blackbird, Swainson's Hawk, American Robin, Northern Harrier, Killdeer, Cliff Swallow, a few Common Yellowthroats, a Great Blue Heron, down the road we saw a Horned Lark, a couple Mallards, a pair of Ring-necked Pheasants, a Rock Wren, Turkey Vulture, Black-billed Magpie and Black-throatedSparrow.

Now off to Carbon County.
 
We stopped at the gas station and saw a House Sparrow and Rock Pigeons. We also saw a couple Violet Green Swallows at Gigliotti Pond. It was pretty quiet so we headed up the mountain to the Price Recreation Area. After last year's fire it broke my heart to see all the burn. It was quiet up there too but we managed 25 species!
  

On the way up we ran into a "birdographerhiker" from Michigan. He hopped in the car with us crazies and birded with us for the afternoon. We saw Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a Dusky Flycatcher and a Red-tailed Hawk on the road up. At the campground we searched for the American Three-toed Woodpecker to no avail. But we did have lots of other good birds. My favorite is always the Grace's Warbler. Oh and hearing the Red Crossbill! We also had lots of Spotted and Green-tailed Towhees, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Chickadee, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Virginia's Warbler, American Robin, Plumbeous Vireo, Western Tanager, Western Kingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Chipping Sparrow, Pine Siskin. On our way back down we saw a Warbling Vireo, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay, Black-headed Grosbeak, Mourning Dove, a Golden Eagle and Downy Woodpecker!!
  

 
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