Birdnet Hotline Highlights
June 2007


Review Species Reported This Month:
   
Zone-tailed Hawk  Washington Co.
   
White-rumped Sandpiper  Rich Co.
   
Least Tern  Salt Lake Co.
   
Eastern Meadowlark  San Juan Co.
 


BOX ELDER COUNTY

Bridget Olson - Bear River Refuge Waterbird/Raptor survey 6/22/07 - ...BW Teal 1...Great Egret 3...

DAVIS COUNTY

cldavis@xmission.com (3 Jun 2007) - There was a 1st Spring (according to Sibley's) Summer Tanager in the trees behind the restroom at Garr Ranch Sunday morning around 8:30 or 9:00 am.

EMERY COUNTY

Pat Jividen (2 Jun 2007) - Steve Carr and I saw a Whimbrel at Huntington state park. At the end of the parking lot, the boat ramp (being 12 the bird was at two) On the far side of the lake.

GRAND COUNTY

Tim Avery (16 Jun 2007) - While conducting a survey along the Dolores River I had an Adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo fly across the river and into a patch of Willow. The area where the bird was seen is just up from the confluence with the Colorado. Also, where the road meets the river, I camped the night before, and at around 5:30 am on the 16th a Green Heron was heard and seen flying over the river. Also in this same area was a "southwest" WILLOW FLYCATCHER.

KANE COUNTY

Tim Avery (28 Jun 2007) - Early Wednesday morning (around 1:00am) I was able to relocate the Spotted Owl originally reported by Larry Tripp in Stout Canyon. The bird started barking shortly after 1:00 am and I listened for about 15 minutes before heading out.

Larry Tripp (23 Jun 2007) - Last night I camped on a ridge top over looking Stout Canyon and saw a couple unusual things. One of the first birds I saw while scanning down into the canyon was a adult Goshawk perched in a dead tree that I was able to watch in the scope for about 5 minutes. Then while watching Common nighthawks soaring around before sundown a Black Swift flew right in front of me at eye level. I was watching it soar around for a couple minutes when another one joined it. I watched both of them at close range for a couple more minutes until they worked there way to the south out of sight. I didn't know of any nesting spots around there but at this time of year maybe. As it started to get dark ... A Spotted Owl started calling right below me in the canyon. When I got up today it was in the same area calling again.

RICH COUNTY

Mark Stackhouse (17 Jun 2007) - Some of the folks on our trip to Deseret Ranch asked that I send in a report of what we found...We had all seven Utah swallows, including Purple Martins in two locations, and a great show by both male and female Williamson's Sapsuckers. A Common Tern added to the real "common" species to produce a four-tern day ...The oddest sightings were out-of-season shorebirds, including two Long-billed Dowitchers that continue to be present since at least two weeks ago, and a juvenile (already heading south?) plumaged Stilt Sandpiper.

Mark Stackhouse (5 June 2007) - David Wheeler and I did a "Big Day" on Deseret Ranch on Sunday. ...We found 155 species on the ranch Sunday - 139 species seen and 16 heard only. I had all 155, David missed a calling Downy Woodpecker, so had 154. We set a new record for the ranch, for June in Utah, and new county Big Day records for Rich (106 species) and Morgan (87 species) Counties. We also had 46 species in Summit County (not a record). ...The rarest species seen was a trio of White-rumped Sandpipers at Bluegrass Pond - the second record for that species on the ranch....We saw some uncommon Utah birds, such as Blue-winged Teal, Greater Scaup (quite a few of these), five species of owls, including Northern Pygmy-Owl (see photo), Purple Martin, and Common Grackle (first confirmed nesting on the ranch). See the entire list below.

SALT LAKE COUNTY

Bob Huntington (24 Jun 2007) - This afternoon I was sitting at the table looking out at my feeders. In the feeder feeding with two morning doves, one Eurasian Collard-Dove and one White-winged Dove at one time. The white-wing was a first for my yard as well as salt lake county. A beautiful bird.

Tim Avery (23 Jun 2007) - This afternoon while golfing at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City, one of my buddies asked why the "little seagulls" were "fighting". I looked over to see one Tern fervently pursuing another around the main pond between the 1st fairway and the 9th fairway.  ...In any event the "Smaller" tern was an Adult Least Tern in breeding plumage. I watched the two birds for about a minute before the Forster's gave up and dove for a fish while the Least continued floating around. There were 3 Forster's Terns in the area and later, while playing near the 6th I observed the Least on another pond!

Colby Neuman (4 Jun 2007) - I went on a hike up Neff's Canyon (Salt Lake Co.) on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours. We hiked up towards the north chute on Mt. Olympus where a Winter Wren was singing both on the way up and down the canyon.

SAN JUAN COUNTY

Tim Avery (14 June 2007) - Devil's Canyon Campground... A single Acorn Woodpecker could be seen from HWY 191 on the east side of the road, I believe there may be a nest in the area as I saw the bird near a cavity. 4 Pygmy Nuthatches and around 10 Grace's Warblers were also seen/heard.

Tim Avery (8 June 2007) - Yesterday afternoon while driving from Blanding to Montezuma Creek Canyon I saw a meadowlark that looks good for an Eastern just to the west of Doc Redd's place... I was able to watch the bird for about a minute before it flew directly over me and onto Dr. Redd Property, before dropping in the grass out of view. The malar was distinctly pale (not yellow, white-pale), and the birds flanks were more or less streaked. The bird didn't appear as pale as I would have imagined a "Lilian's" form to be. Unfortunately, the bird did not vocalize, and I checked the area again today without seeing the bird again.

SUMMIT COUNTY

Colby Neuman (18 Jun 2007) -  Don Youso (from FL) and I went up the Mirror Lake highway early this morning in search of Black Rosy-Finch and White-winged Crossbill. ...walked to the east along the south slope of Bald Mountain. While scanning the remaining snow patches for rosy-finch, I heard a Black Rosy-Finch in the distance, and after awhile, we had two Black Rosy-Finch fly right over heads before they circled around to the south and out of sight. We decided to head back to the car after scanning the slope for about 30 more minutes with no success besides two birds foraging on a very distant snowpatch. While walking back up to the pass with crossbills flying all around us, we stumbled upon two immature White-winged Crossbills perched on a branch 20 ft away at eye level. They sat quite obligingly for several minutes.

Jack Binch (16 Jun 2007) - The White-winged Crossbill is still at the Kennedy Group Campground at Washington Lake. It was in the trees at the end of the road around the circle. Thanks to the Beyers, Bob Huntington and I found it this morning at about 9:30 AM. Another birder walked up with us and also saw the bird, but I cannot remember his name. It was a Utah life bird for me. :-)

Joel and Kathy (11 Jun 2007) - On Sunday afternoon we did some hiking and driving along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway (Hwy 150, mostly Summit Co.). At the Washington Lake group campground we saw a female White-winged Crossbill and a couple of Red Crossbills. Also in this campground was a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers, making repeated visits to an aspen covered in sap wells. Earlier on Sunday morning we found a female Varied Thrush along Highway 65 (Summit Co.). Coming from Henefer, drive south along Hwy 65 about 5(?) miles to the large drive-through pullout (which is about a mile past the last house/ranch buildings). There are a large number of tall cottonwood trees and dense vegetation here, and the small stream crosses under the road.

UINTAH COUNTY

Diane Penttila (4 Jun 2007) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey... The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged teal 11 ...Wood duck 12 ...Great Egret 1 ...Bonaparte's gull 3 ...Black tern 7...

UTAH COUNTY 

Connie Norheim (24 Jun 2007) - Bill Fenimore had suggested we try Bridal Veil Falls in Provo for our lifer Black Swifts. We struck out on the first attempt... We were successful however at finding the Black Swifts on our return trip this morning at 6:15. We watched about 10 or 12 of them fly around above the top of the cliff above the highest waterfall, with the blue sky behind them.

Lu Giddings (4 Jun 2007) - I had a chance to make a quick trip up Payson Canyon late yesterday afternoon. About six or so Purple Martins were seen in their usual nesting spot about five miles beyond the Santaquin Canyon turn-off, along with a single tree swallow and a number of violet-green swallows. A pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers were seen and heard about 1.1 miles down the Mona Pole Canyon road, essentially at the point where a large snow bank currently blocks the road.

WASHINGTON COUNTY 

Tim Avery (28 Jun 2007) - ... a large hummingbird that flew by where the road crosses Beaver Dam Creek just below Lytle Ranch last night (06/27). I saw the bird for about 5 seconds as it flew by and off into the hunting preserve to the south. As it flew by I was immediately aware of its large size for a hummer. ...As I struggled to put things together, I thought it had to be either a Magnificent or a Blue-throated Hummingbird based off what I saw. The size alone was astonishing, and coupled with the other field marks I would have to favor Blue-throated Hummingbird. I hesitate to say for sure that it was a Blue-throated, but I can't fathom what else it could have been... Such is life. ...I was able to spend a few hours at Kolob Terrace earlier in the week, and was rewarded with great looks at at least 2 different Zone-tailed Hawks. The birds were seen in several locations: At Kolob Creek Crossing where the creek plunges over the cliffs, and along the road to Lava Point over the pond and fields. ...Yesterday afternoon at Lytle Ranch I was able to view 3 Common Black-Hawk, one of which was a nestling that wasn't quite "black" yet.