Recent Sightings in Uintah County

Sep 2008

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife RefugeGeneral Waterbird Survey - 9/17/08 - The following birds were seen within the survey route ...Wood duck 3 ...Great Egret 3 ...American bittern 1...

Aug 2008

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife RefugeGeneral Waterbird Survey 8/19/08 The following birds were seen within the survey route (that I could get to): ...Wood duck 2... Great Egret 1... American bittern 1...

Jul 2008

Tim Avery - This weekend (07/25-07/27) Colby Neuman (and his dog Lucy), Samantha Sargent and I headed to the Leidy Peak area... We got a late start into the mountains and ended up getting to the parking area above Hacking Lake just after sunset, as it started to rain. ...And it shouldn't seem odd given the numbers this year, but a White-winged Crossbill was singing in the dim morning light in the trees around camp, and throughout the weekend they could be heard singing, calling, and the occasional fly-over was seen for added satisfaction. ... Around 11:00am, Sam and I ventured back through the tree-line towards camp, where many White-crowned and Chipping Sparrow were still busy singing away. Back at our camp, I heard an American Three-toed Woodpecker drumming, and tracked the male bird down for a photo.... We waited for it to get dark, and headed several miles down the road to start playing for owls. We made 8 stops playing for Boreal Owl,...On the 5th stop, about 1/3 mile below Hacking Lake after playing the song for 45 seconds a small owl flew low over me, and Colby and I both heard the wing beats. WE frantically searched in the trees for the bird, and even thought we heard it scratch a couple times. I thought I heard a small cough call once, but wasn't sure. We made our 6th stop just at the entrance to Hacking Lake, and after playing the song just 2 times, we heard wing beats flyover and through the trees. Twice we caught glimpses of a bird flying through the woods, and into trees, but were never able to get clear, or close looks at the bird. Finally, our 8th stop was at the Highline Trail stop along the road just above Hacking Lake. We played here for about 30 seconds before I had another bird buzz me, the wing beats, loud enough that I jumped in the air, freaking out at how close the bird had came. I think Colby was probably laughing as I was pretty shaken and began scanning all the surrounding trees. I caught some movement high in a spruce/fir but never got a clear glimpse of what the bird was.  Although, we never got good looks at a bird, and had no feedback in terms of song or call, the actions of the tiny birds were consistent with that of Boreal Owl in surrounding states at this time of year. As with other possible interactions with this species in Utah, this was somewhat a frustrating experience, as it is truly impossible to say that the birds weren't saw-whet or pygmy owls. However, I would like to think that based off the birds flying over when a Boreal song is played, in what is seemingly perfect habitat, it would make sense that the birds were indeed Boreal Owls.

Diane Penttila (21 Jul 2008)  - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey... The following birds were seen within the survey route (that I could getto): ...Blue-winged teal 3... Wood duck 3... Great Egret 1... American bittern 2...

Jun 2008

Diane Penttila (18 Jun 2008) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 6/18/08 - ...The following birds were seen within the survey route (that I could get to): ...Blue-winged teal 5 ...Wood duck 1 ...Great Egret 1 ...American bittern 4...

Brian Maxfield (3 Jul 2008) - A bit of a late posting but recently I observed a single Indigo Bunting and a single Black Phoebe along the Green River in Desolation Canyon. The Indigo Bunting was only a mile or so downstream from the Sand Wash boat ramp but the Black Phoebe was smack in the middle of the canyon. I neglected to post early because of the remote nature of these sightings. This is the first Black Phoebe I have observed in this area but I generally see Indigo Buntings every time I go down the river.

May 2008

Clay and Cliftia (23 May 2008) - [Jensen, UT] We’ve been getting arrivals sometimes four species per day through much of May…We had Black-headed Grosbeaks (3) along with a Rose-breasted Grosbeak a week or so ago. Today driving home I had a white morph Great blue heron fly over…and when I got home an Indigo Bunting was hanging around our feeder.

Jan 2008

Clay Johnson (5 Jan 2008) - Our first bird for 2008: right at sunrise on January 1st, Cliftia looked out the kitchen window and said “come look at this!” A Northern Shrike was sitting in the cottonwood by the feeder. That is the first Northern for our yard…a good way to start a birding year!

Dec 2007

Brian Maxfield (7 Dec 2007) - I have observed two large flocks of rosy-fnches over the past couple of days. The largest was in Indian Canyon (south of Duchesne) and number around 100 birds. ...The other flock, around 60 birds, was seen along the Jones Hole road northeast of Vernal. The flock was feeding in road cuts along the road heading down into Jones Hole approximately 4-5 miles before the hatchery. Again, the flock was a mixture of Gray-crowned and Blacks Rosy-finches. I looked and looked but could not find any Brown-capped Rosy-finches... I thought since I was only a mile or so from Colorado maybe one would slip in.

Oct 2007

Lu Giddings (13 Oct 2007) - A White-throated Sparrow was seen at about 10:30 a.m. this morning about two miles into the auto tour route at Ouray NWR. It was, oddly enough, in the reeds with a number of other sparrows. A Stilt Sandpiper was seen in the company of long-billed dowitchers and greater and lesser yellowlegs at about 4:30 p.m. this afternoon at Pelican Lake. The birds were frequenting a shallow marshy area just across the access road to the sportsman's area.

Sep 2007

Kathy (30 Sep 2007) - I let my feeders go toward the end of the summer, but recently started filling them again. I was rewarded (and cleaned out) by a visit from 50-75 Common Grackles tonight.

Aug 2007

Tim Avery (18 Aug 2007) - Colby Neuman called me... we met up at 4:00am for the 3.5-4 hour drive to Leidy Peak in the high Uinta's. We arrived at the trail head around 8:00am and were on our way up the mountain at 8:15. ...On top the weather started to look sketchy so we made our way down the south slope. Colby headed southeast and I southwest and pretty soon we were 1/2 way back down the mountain. I was working my way through a patch of rock with a few draws of grass, when I slipped and fell flat on my rear, in the process "terrifying" 2 [White-tailed Ptarmigan] into flight. I hustled to my feet and watched the birds fly about 150 feet before dropping into a boulder field. I made my way to the the area and spent a short time looking for the birds, when it began to pour. Seeing a lightning strike to the west I decided no bird was worth a lightning strike. I headed to tree line, seeing a Red Fox and having a pair of BLACK ROSY-FINCH fly over.

Jun 2007

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...

May 2007

Diane Penttila (4 May 2007) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 5/3/07 ...The following birds were seen within the survey route: Blue-winged teal 6... Great Egret 1...

Clay and Cliftia Johnson (2 May 2007) - Jensen area spring arrivals... Over the past two weeks we have received visits from White-winged, Eurasian Collared, Ringed Turtle, and Mourning doves.

Mar 2007

Clay and Cliftia (25 Mar 2007) - We ran over to the Pelican-Ouray Refuge area for the morning. Annual firsts included ...Horned Grebe...

Jan 2007

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge - 1/19/07 - I saw a flock of Black Rosy-Finches today. Not a species seen very often here. But it has been an unusual year.

Oct 2006

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge - General Waterbird Survey - 10/26/06 - The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged teal 3, ...Great Egret 1, ...American bittern 1, ...Black-bellied plover 1...

Sep 2006

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 9/26/06 - The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged teal 22... Wood duck 1... Great Egret 2... Black-bellied plover 1...

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 9/11/06 - The following birds were seen within the survey route: Blue-winged teal 3, Wood duck 11, Great Egret 2, American bittern 1, Black-bellied plover 1, Least sandpiper 2, Pectoral sandpiper 1, Peregrine falcon 1...

Aug 2006

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey - 8/23/06 - The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged teal 10... Wood duck 3... Great Egret 1...

Jul 2006

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 7/6/06... The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged teal 1... American bittern 5... Solitary sandpiper 1...

Jun 2006

Diane Penttila (6 June 2006) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey... The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged Teal 10...Wood duck 1... Great Egret 1... American bittern 3... Black-bellied plover 1...

May 2006

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey - 5/23/06 - The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged Teal 2 ...Green Heron 1... Red-necked Phalarope 7...

Mar 2006

Diane Penttila (21 Mar 2006) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey. The following birds were seen within the survey route:...Greater White-fronted Geese 4... Hooded merganser 1... Peregrine falcon 1...

Dec 2005

Diane Penttila (2 Dec 2005) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...Only a small corner of Sheppard Bottom has open water along with the River. But the raptors have started moving in. The following birds were seen within the survey route: ..Snow goose 6, Greater white-fronted Goose 1,...Great egret 1,...Sandhill crane 37...

Nov 2005

Diane Penttila (16 Nov 2005) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey. A real cold snap finally moved through and the ice is starting to form. Moved a lot of birds on but some others came in. A Northern Shrike and a ruby-crowned kinglet were good finds for me. The following birds were seen within the survey route:...Snow goose 1...Great egret 1...

Diane Penttila (1 Nov 2005) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...The following birds were seen within the survey route:...Canvasback 3...American bittern 1...Great egret 1...

Oct 2005

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey - 10/20/05 - The following birds were seen within the survey route:...Blue-winged teal 5...Great egret 1...

Sep 2005

Diane Penttila (7 Sep 2005) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...The following birds were seen within the survey route:...Blue-winged Teal 5...Wood Duck 3...Green Heron 1...American Bittern 1...Great Egret 2...

Aug 2005

Tim Avery (8 Aug 2005) - ...On Saturday morning my dad and I left Salt Lake at 2:45 for the 3 and a1/2 hour drive to Leidy Peak. The point of the day was to find and photograph White-tailed Ptarmigan. ...I had headed back to the base and began working the east to north slope when my dad radioed me..." I found em'". He found 3 [White-tailed Ptarmigan] on the opposite side of the mountain from where I was looking... I ended up getting a few of my Utah target birds for the year: Red Crossbill...Black Rosy-Finch...Northern Goshawk (near Leidy Peak), Williamson's Sapsucker...

Jul 2005

Diane Penttila (14 July 2005) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...Great Egret 1...American bittern 2...

May 2005

Lu Giddings (14 May 2005) - An American Golden-Plover was seen in an oversized mud puddle (about 15' x 20') immediately north of and adjacent to the Jones Hole road, about 24 miles east of east of Vernal and 0.25 miles west of the Brown Hole / Crouse Reservoir road. The bird was seen at about 2:15 p.m. this afternoon and watched from a distance of roughly 30-50' for about 15 minutes. This gave me ample opportunity to examine it carefully and to ascertain that it was not a black-bellied, pacific golden, or eurasian golden plover...

Apr 2005

Bob Bradley - (28 April 2005) - Ouray NWR: ...Blue-winged Teal, 1 pair...Sanderling, 5

Jan 2005

Kathy (4 Jan 2005) - sightings of Eurasian Collared-Doves have become pretty common in Utah, including just down the road in Jensen, but I hadn't seen any in Vernal - until today. About a dozen flew across the road in front of me this noon...

Michael Weber (2 Jan 2005) - Christmas Bird Count Results for Jensen... Merlin - 1...Sandhill Crane - 1200...Eurasian Collared Dove - 1...

Nov 2004

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 11/22/04. The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Greater White-fronted Goose 3...

Clay and Cliftia (14 Nov 2004) - We took a quick run by Steinaker Reservoir just north of Vernal this morning. We saw Canada geese, mallards, both goldeneyes, common loons and mergansers, a ring-necked duck, and two juvenile White-winged Scoters. One of the scoters was hanging out with a pair of Greater Scaup. The reservoir is really low so you need a scope to see the water areas very well from the pull-outs along the highway.

Diane Penttila (5 Nov 2004) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...A Eurasian Wigeon was seen in Leota Bottom. The brown/rust colored head and cream colored forehead really made the bird stand out....

Oct 2004

Diane Penttila (12 Oct 2004) - This notice is long past due, but ...Don Ruh saw a Long-tailed Jeager around the shoreline of Pelican Lake on 9/29 and again on 10/1. He said the bird still had breeding head feathers but non-breeding tail feathers. Waterfowl season opened on 10/2 so it is likely the bird was chased off.

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 10/7/04... The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...American Bittern 1...Pectoral sandpiper 7...

Aug 2004

Clay and Cliftia Johnson (30 Aug 2004) - For those who follow such things, we’ve been keeping an eye out around Vernal this summer to see when/if the Eurasian collared doves appeared in this immediate area. We finally saw two Eurasian Collared Doves on the power lines along the west side of the road to Dinosaur National Monument, one-tenth of a mile north of Jensen, on Saturday, August 28, 2994.

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 8/26/04.  The following birds were seen within the survey route...Great Egret 1...American bittern 1 ...Pectoral Sandpiper 2 ...Semipalmated Sandpiper 10 ...Red-necked Phalarope 5 ...Dunlin 1...

Diane Penttila (10 Aug 2004) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey...The following birds were seen within the survey route...Blue-winged teal 7...Great egret 1...Solitary sandpiper 1...

Jul 2004

Alton Thygerson  (2 July 2004) - My wife and I traveled to Ouray National Wildlife Rufuge ...We birded Ouray for about an hour (7:00-8:00 pm).  Top birds were two American Bittern in the open with one in the well known bittern poise of pointing its bill skyward, Black Terns, Great Egret (mixed in with Snowy Egrets and Cattle Egret), Green Heron (not only seen but was also making its distinctive "skyowk" call...

Jun 2004

Diane Penttila - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge General Waterbird Survey 6/9/04. The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged Teal 2 ...Great Egret 2 ...American Bittern 3 ...Black Tern 5

Tim Avery (7 June 2004) - Spent the weekend at Pelican Lake and Ouray NWR. ...highlights were the 20+ American Bitterns at Leota Bottoms...

May 2004

David Wheeler (31 May 2004) - Stilt sandpipers: three on the west end of Pelican Lake, Uintah Co. In 3/4-breeding plumage. Access is from the road that runs east-west north of the lake, and becomes a pretty nasty dirt road by the time it reaches the end (where the shorebirds are in the mini-delta of the creek that flows in there).

Diane Penttila (4 May 2001) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge ...The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Blue-winged Teal 9 ...Horned Grebe 1 ...Great Egret 1 ...Semi-palmated Plover 3 ...Black-bellied Plover 1

Apr 2004

Bryan Shirley (28 April 2004) - I just got back from Ouray NWR and we had a fairly productive day. ...there was a pretty good mix of shorebirds including 1 Solitary Sandpiper at point 1 on the tour loop. The best birding was in the lakes down the road that goes to the fish hatchery. We got 2 Black-bellied Plovers, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, Marbled Godwits, & L.B. Dowitchers....

Diane Penttila (19 Apr 2004) - Ouray National Wildlife Refuge...The following birds were seen within the survey route: ...Horned Grebe 2...Great Egret 4...

Jan 2004

Kathy Paulin (9 Jan 3004) - We had 5 intrepid birders show up for the Dinosaur NM-Jensen CBC last Saturday, despite a snowstorm that lasted most of the morning....One new species was seen for this circle - a Northern Mockingbird at Stewart Lake Waterfowl Mgmt area. I had a Harris’s Sparrow at my feeder the week of the count, but couldn’t find one inside the circle. ... Still, we did slightly better than average with 38 species and 3138 individuals (mostly thanks to a huge flock of geese seen in fields along the Green River). The complete species list is given below....Sandhill Crane - 125 (feeding with the geese)

June 2003

Julie - (6 June 2003) Pomera, Ann, Dana and I birded Ouray tody, mostly looking for the Indigo Bunting and American Bittern. We found a Lazuli-Indigo hybrid in the spot indicated by others, but no Indigo. This bird was the classic hybrid shown in Sibley, with the white lower belly. We did see a bittern--it was in the classic "you can't see me with my head pointed up" pose. ... Most of the other birds were commonly expected except that Dana (who arrived earlier than we did) saw a moorhen and a Common Tern. ...Eurasian Collared Doves were in Jensen (east of Vernal) just as Kathy Paulin told us they would be.

Ed Conrad - (5 June 2003) Today, I saw the Indigo Bunting at Ouray in the exact location that the Beyers reported it a couple of weeks ago. But my favorite birds of the day were 3 American Bitterns. I heard one while I was on the auto-tour route just as the road turns parallel to the Green River. ...I flushed two more American Bitterns when I stopped my car just outside of Leota Bottoms next to the closed gate.

May 2003

Joel and Kathy Beyer - (26 May 2003) The birding this morning at Ouray NWR was great. The highlights were American Bittern, Indigo Bunting and Green Heron. The Indigo Bunting was seen along the road to Leola Bottoms (in the first group of trees and marsh past the end of the auto tour loop). The Green Heron was near the end of the auto tour loop, on an island in the Green River. From the top of the observation tower the Bittern could be seen and heard calling.

Myke - (9 May 2003) One [Eurasian Collard-Dove]  was spotted in Jensen during the Christmas Bird Count. I've been hoping to see one since then. On Thursday I saw two pair! One pair was near the Post Office and the other just West of Split Mountain Garden Center. I didn't get a perched look at either pair, but they were definitely larger than Mourning Doves and their tails were distinctly different. I'd love a confirmation by someone. Hopefully, over the next few days I'll get a better look, but I wanted to tip you all off quickly.

Jan 2003

Kathy Paulin - The Dino-Jensen CBC was Saturday, Jan. 4 and was a great success. ...New species or forms for this CBC were Lapland Longspur, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eurasian Collared-Dove, western screech-owl, short-eared owl,
Harris's sparrow, and American pipit. ... [E-mail about the Eurasian Collared Dove] "Kim Potter, Rich Levad, Amy Levad and I saw the Eurasian Collared-Dove on a power line on Hwy 40 just east of the Jensen visitor center. We, the group from Colorado, all had a great time on your CBC and hope to do it again next year. You have a great area, good birds and very nice people. ~ Dona Hilkey"

Kathy Paulin - (Tue, 7 Jan 2003)  This isn't a "sighting" in the usual sense of the word, but another birder here in Vernal came across an American Redstart recently. Since it was so far out of season, I thought it was of interest and asked for details. Here's what she sent me: "Found a.m. January 3rd on Castle Cove Road, top of Dry Fork. Was stuck to the headlamp of a truck, so could have been hit anywhere along Dry Fork Road or even in town. Was soft, not frozen, and freshly killed.... There is no question in my mind that it was a redstart. I identified it with both specimen and bird book (National Geographic) in
hand."

September 2002

Ron Brunson - (Mon, 2 Sep)  The Brown Thrasher was back in my yard again this morning along with catbirds, Virginias warbler, orange crowned warblers, Wilson's warblers, A great tailed grackle and a partial albino robin that had snow white wings and tail, green tailed tohee, house wrens. among others.

August 2002

Ron Brunson - (Sun, 18 Aug 2002)  After being absent for over a year I finally found the Brown Thrasher again in my yard in Vernal.

May 2002

   Joel & Kathy Beyer - This morning, Friday 5/24/02, at Pelican Lake in Uintah County, we observed several Black Terns, an American Bittern, and three Black Swifts.  Also today at Ouray NWR, a male Wood Duck was at the Woods Bottom lake.

May 2001

A male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK has been visiting a feeder in Jensen over the past week, as reported on Friday, 05/04 (KP).

Two BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS were seen at Ouray NWR on Saturday, 05/05 (B&LR).

February 2001

Both a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and a HARRIS'S SPARROW were being seen regularly at a feeder at the Brunson home in Vernal as of Saturday, 2/3 (RB). Anyone who wishes to visit to look for these birds is welcome.