Utah County Birders  Field Trip Report

23 Nov 2019 Annual Wild Turkey Trot    by Suzi Holt   We started off the morning leaving Sam's club at 8:05 heading straight to East Lawn and saw 12 turkeys! We also saw a couple Woodhouse's Scrub Jays and a Black-billed Magpie. From there we went up South Fork and found 7 different flocks of turkeys totaling 121! Running total is 133!   Road to Eastlawn Memoral South Fork South Fork - near reception center South Fork - near reception center South Fork South Fork South Fork - up higher South Fork- up higher Turkeys South Fork yep that is what you think it is Terry gave us a tip to try Hobble Creek canyon and the golf course. We are sad to say we only found golfers. We met Kaylene at the Chevron and trotted up to Diamond Fork. I have never been to Diamond Fork and not seen turkeys. Let's just say we learned turkeys are turkeys. We counted ourselves lucky to see a Bald Eagle, Dark-eyed Juncos, a Red-tailed Hawk, more Scrub Jay's; Magpies and Townsend's Solitaire. We have now been on our trukey trot for as long as it takes to cook a large Thanksgiving turkey! Although we were sad that Diamond Forks turkeys flew the coup, we found 27 turkeys close to Covered Bridge. Running total is up to 160. Trotting over to Loafer Canyon and Elk Ridge. We stopped by to see if Dennis had any...nope but we had a nice visit and shared some turkey cookies. We talked to my Mom to get the scoop and talked to Geniel and my Dad. Geniel had 7 visit in the morning, you bet we are counting those. Lesson #2 is from Lynn "the turkeys may or may not be where you think they are and may or may not be where you might think they are." Bryan Shirley's girls were up at Grandpa's...and were luck enough to get some turkey cookies.                            Suzi's Dad -- "The Big Turkey". We stopped to see my Dad the biggest Turkey of all and shared some more cookies. Best birds up there were Red-tailed Hawk, Black-capped Chickadees at Dennis's home and Scrub Jays at moms. Payson Canyon Payson Canyon On with the trot to Payson Canyon. In the meadow we found 3 flocks totaling 103!!! Our running total is 269!! We also saw Black-capped chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch and more Stellar's Jay's and Townsend's Solitaires, some American Robin's, a Northern Harrier and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Carol Jean and Machelle had a belly full of Turkey and decided to head home. The 5 of us trotted on to Santaquin Canyon. We successfully found 4 turkeys, tallying 273 Wild Turkeys!!! I noticed James had sent me a email saying he had 9 Turkeys in his yard. GRAND TOTAL 282!!!! Look at all them turkeys! 7 hours 44 minutes and 188.3 miles! A fun day had by all! We are thankful to all who joined or helped in any way to a successful Turkey Trot.     E-mail: ucbirders@utahbirds.org