Back to the Chirp!

I’ve decided to revive this blog, but will do so with a change on its focus. It will be devoted exclusively to birds and conservations issues that occur in the hood. That is, within a twenty-five mile driving/walking radius of home.

 

Loon Lake

Shelly and I spent a quiet evening at Little Dell. Among the birds we saw was a Common Loon, a Clark’s Grebe and a Cedar Waxing. There must have been more than one Waxwing in the area since they usually travel in a flock. The Loon, however, was the big surprise, while they are fairly common during spring migration, there presence this far south is much rarer. In addition to the 21 bird species we heard or saw, we also had a large Bull Moose, a Beaver and a Mule Deer.

 

Barn Owl

 

Hit and Miss Birding

Goldeneye on Thawing Lake

Shelly and I hiked Silver Lake at Brighton last Sunday and repeated the effort on last night. Big difference in both the number and variety of birds. On Sunday we had at least four Brown Creeper actively “creeping” in the shaded pines on the south side of the lake. This was just one of 22 species we encountered there that afternoon. Others included Steller’s Jay, Western Tanager, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow and both Nuthatch species. The main empetus for our trip last night was to photograph the Creepers in action. We assumed that with fewer people and a better time of day–evening vs. mid-afternoon–our success would be assured. Nope. Not only did we not find the Creepers, there was very little bird activity in general. Pine Siskin buzzing and Tree Swallows flycatching were about it. Oh, well, that’s the nature of chasing birds.

 

Bobolinks, Balloons and a Snipe Hunt

A snipe hunt can be described as a form of wild goose chase that is also known as a fool’s errand. It is a class of practical jokes that involves experienced people making fun of newcomers by giving them an impossible task. Some days it seems that every effort to find birds, especially rare or new bird for the life-list is a snipe hunt. We had spotted our nemisis, the nattily feathered Bobolink in a alfalfa field north of Heber a week ago, but Shelly wanted to get a better picture than the one she had obtained on that day. We returned on Friday, and although we were treated to a singing Snipe who “posed” happily on a fence post, the Boblinks were not showing themselves. Three hot-air balloons floated a few hundred feet above the in the cool morning air, their operators hoping to eake a few minutes of air-time before warmer temperatures prevailed. Down below we could hear perhaps a dozen Boblinks singing. Occasionally one would pop-up on an alfalfa shaft only to disappear when we directed our binos to that spot. Eventually a pair took flight and perched, momentarily, within camera range. The Boblink shot will have to wait for another day. Evening would probably be best. Despite the lack of success in the image-gathering department, it was an excellent bird day. We had eight Snipe in the Heber fields. At least a dozen Boblink were heard or seen, and along with Red-winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds, we had great soundtrack wafting over our beautiful morning. A bunch of American Goldfinch foraged in the brush along with Robins and Cowbirds. Where the fields were flooded to irrigate the year’s second alfalfa crop, we had Killdeer and Long-billed Dowitcher, while a Black-headed Grossbeak and Orange-crowned Warbler scurried through the branches of trees which line the fields. As we were leaving we saw 21 Turkey Vulture soaring over Heber. After a quick visit to a quiet Cascade Springs, we ended up Bridal Veil Falls in search of the reported Black Swift. There we found species #350 flying high amongst the mist produced by the falling water.

 

The Tragedy of Celebrity

Pale Male, arguably the most famous wild bird in the world, lives in and just across the street from Central Park. The Red-tailed Hawk has made its nest there since 1991. Central Park holds the dubious distinction of being the European starling’s launch pad. Fans of Shakespeare released the bird into the park in the 1890s as part of a plan to introduce to the New World all of the Old World species mentioned in the Bard’s plays. Within 60 years, the bird had reached the shores of the Pacific. On the other end of the spectrum, the number of  Peregrine falcon breeding pairs fell to a low of 263 in North America in the 1970s before consentrated recovery efforts helped the species to reach its current level of more than 2,500. It is estimated that more than 100 million birds die annually from causes related to human activities mostly from collisions with windows and cats. These tragic events are the focus of bird conservation organizations and rightly so–we can all do something to prevent them. But lost in the numbers, the legislation and public awareness programs is a fundamental fact of life–all living things eventually die. This week three Peregrine Falcon chicks hatched by the breeding pair located in downtown SLC died. Don’t know what the cause is. The Utah DWR reports:

“Disaster strikes. Sadly, the first two eyases to hatch expired on the morning of May 21 and the third eyas died on May 23. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists are uncertain why they died, but a major swing in temperature may have been a factor. (The temperature plummeted from 93° F during the afternoon of May 20 to about 45° F by mid-morning on May 21.) In addition, the fourth egg appeared to have a hole in it. The dead eyases and the egg were discarded by the adults.

We have retrieved one of the dead eyases and some shell fragments. We will look for additional remains below the box on the 26th and 27th, and will try to determine a more specific cause of death. We will report our findings on this page when we have more information. The adults are unlikely to re-nest this year.”

 

Stormy Migration

A Yellow-billed loon has been sighted at Jordanelle over the last couple of days. If positive reports continue to be made this evening/tomorrow morning, I’ll head up there.

 

International Migratory Bird

Shelly and travelled to Grand Teton for the third consecutive year to participate in an International Migratory Bird Day event held there. Of course we birded along the way. Our original plan was to visit Antelope Island early Friday morning, but events at home and the weather squashed those plans. I hear we missed a lot of good stuff at that location. We did manage a short visit to Bear River MBR and picked up about 50 species. Time constraints prevented us from visiting Cutler Marsh and other Cache county hot-spots we visit on our way to Teton/Yellowstone. Highlights of our trip:

WESTERN KINGBIRDS at Bear River–the only flycatchers we saw.

At least 8,000 FRANKLIN’S GULLS at Grey’s Lake NWR.

Dozens of SANDHILL CRANE at the same location.

Approximately 150 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS hovering in front of a GREATER-SAGE GROUSE lek in Grand Teton.

A wayward DUSKY GROUSE who decided to establish and defend his territory in the middle of one of the most congested roads in the Park.

The return of the AMERICAN ROBIN to Jackson Hole. Thousands of robin converge after a long winter to feed on the emerging insects.

Raptors including PERIGRINE FALCON, PRAIRIE FALCON, BALD EAGLE, GOLDEN EAGLE, RED-TAIL HAWK, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, SWAINSON’S HAWK, KESTREL, and OSPREY.

TRUMPETER SWANS on the Snake River.

But our birding highlight was hearing a STELLAR’S JAY mimic a red-tail hawk. Never heard this apparently common behavior before, truly memorable.

The spring spectacle more than made up for the lack of numbers–we tallied about 60 species in the Park. Our weekend total was 98 species. We also spent a good deal of time watching a grizzly bear dubbed #399 by the Park service. Her litter of three cubs will likely be weaned in the next couple of weeks.

 

Spring Birds At Last

We are usually graced with the presence of a varity of unexpected spring migrants. But this year has been very quiet–until the past couple of days. We had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-crowned Sparrow, and two, new to the yard species, Lazuli Bunting(male and female) and Orange-crowned Warbler. Both the Warbler and the Bunting are common in our area, but I was skeptical about ever seeing a Lazuli in the yard since they are nomally closely associated with water. Maybe our Luzuli pair’s apperance had something to do with Shelly placing a bird bath near the feeders?

 

The Radial Birder

With the high price of gasoline how many of us are reducing the frequency and/or distance of our birding activities? Our goal is to observe 200 species in 2008, within 25 miles(one way) of our home in Salt Lake. Is it possible?  Hot spots within the scope of this “yard” include the canyons of Salt Lake and South Davis counties, Little Dell, Lee Kaye Ponds, the International Center and Farmington Bay, which is the northern most point in our “yard.” I think we have a good variety of habitat available to us, but we won’t be able to count the easy pickins at Antelope Island(45 miles), Bear River MBR(70 miles) and Cutler Marsh(99 miles), or the unique for Utah environment of Washington county(300+ miles). Both Salt Lake and Davis county check-lists number over 300 species, but many of these are dupicates and rarities, so achieving our goal will prove to be a real challenge. Our current year yard-list stands at 124 species–we’re half-way there. Bring on the tanagers, hummers and warblers!

 

Palm Warblers and other “spring” surprises.

Shelly and I had a long yet productive weekend of birding that produced 88 species. Shelly had a professional commitment on Saturday in Logan, but we managed to visit BRMBR both in the morning and the evening. We made it to about three miles from the wildlife education center and it was there that we found two PALM WARBLER. Other highlights were twenty-five SANDHILL CRANE in an ag-field northwest of the center, a bunch of LONG-BILLED CURLEW popping up seemingly everywhere, and our first WESTERN KINGBIRD of the season. Little time to bird in Cache Valley, but we did check out Cutler Marsh and found lots of waterfowl and at least 50 little yellow fluff-balls attended by their CANADA GOOSE parents. Can’t wait to put the kayaks in the water next week. Our evening at BRMBR was not as eventfull as the morning, highlights were a BARN OWL and SHORT-EARED OWl–couldn’t relocate the PALM WARBLERS.  We birded Farmington Bay Sunday afternoon and were dismayed by the lack of YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS along the auto route. Not a single invidual singing from the cattails surrounding the impoundments. The ponds, however, were full of EARED GREBE and a good variety of waterfowl. We also spotted our first BAIRD’s SANDPIPER and WESTERN SANDPIPER of the season, and a couple of WESTERN KINGBIRD were also present. On the way out, we discovered the reason missing BLACKBIRDS–they were hanging out at the feeder at the yellow house, enjoying their free lunch.