Usual Places
(for the usual suspects)

Certain birds may be seen regularly in the same places year after year.  Some of these places are NOT listed in the "Places to Bird" section of the web site and are locations that, in order to find very easily, require a good set of instructions.  Here is a list of some "Usual Places" listed by County:   | Utah County | Weber County |
  
Utah County
Wood Duck 
West Provo - (About 2700 west and 220 North in Provo)  There is a short dead end road (2710 N.) that ends in a fence and gate.  This is a good place to look in the wooded ponds behind the houses.  If you go north from here on 220 North to where the road turns south, you can sometimes see the Wood Ducks in the yards of the houses in front of the ponds.  If you go around the corner (turn left twice) there is a spot where you can look into the ponds from the street
  
Burrowing Owl (spring and summer)
North of Elberta - Go north on UT 68 from Elberta about a mile.  As you cross the railroad tracks and approach mile marker "1," look right (east) and check out the prairie dog mounds in the sage brush flat.  (Burrowing Owls have been spotted at different locations within a 12-mile stretch along this road).
   
Lewis's Woodpecker (fall and winter)
East of Salem - From highway 198 going from Spanish Fork to Salem, pass the Hari Krishna temple on the right , turn left at the bottom of the hill (going east) on 8800 South (county road) which is also 1100 North (Salem street). Cross Woodland Hills Drive (there's a stop sign) and turn right at the first available road (there is no sign, but this should be 400 East as a county road, not to be confused with a street of the same name within the Salem City limits). If you continue south on this road for about a half mile you will come to a hill which is part of a ridge which has a lot of scrub oak on it (at the top of the ridge, 9650 South Street goes off to the left [east] along the ridge) . The Woodpeckers can often be seen on the telephone poles along the road near the hill and also in the scrub oak along the ridge as well as in the larger trees along the top of the ridge.
 
American Three-toed Woodpecker (the road is closed in the winter)
Nebo Loop - From the main road to Payson Lakes (there's one road about 3/4 mile before this one), go up the Nebo Loop road about 11 miles (don't take the turnoff to Camp Koholowo / Santaquin Canyon which is about 4.6 miles from Payson Lakes).  Pull into the parking lot of the  "Monument Trailhead."  At the south end of the parking lot there are a bunch of dead or dying pine trees that have been worked over by the Three-toed Woodpeckers -- there's a lot of bark chips at the base of the trees. If you don't find them here you  can try going a little ways down  the trail (to the west).
 
Purple Martin  (the road is closed in the winter)
Nebo Loop - From the main road to Payson Lakes (there's one road about 3/4 mile before this one), go up the Nebo Loop road about 10 miles (don't take the turnoff to Camp Koholowo / Santaquin Canyon which is about 4.6 miles from Payson Lakes).  You can recognize the martin place because as you climb to a dynamic curve at the top of a hill, there's an open panoramic view and then some aspen trees on the left (east side) where there are some (martin) boxes that have been attached to the trees. (If you come to the "Monument Trailhead" you've gone about a mile too far).
 
Swainson's Thrush (spring and summer)
South Fork of Provo Canyon - From Vivian Park, about 5 miles up Provo Canyon, take the South Fork Road 1.1 miles to a white gate on the right.  There are signs that read "Provo City Watershed" and "no trespassing,"  You can usually hear the thrushes from the road.  Swainson's Thrushes can also be found at Vivian Park at the mouth of South Fork Canyon and at Big Spring Hollow about 3 1/2 miles up the canyon.
  

Weber County

Bobolink  (spring -- mid May)  ~ submitted by Kris Purdy
Ogden Valley - Bobolinks have arrived in Ogden Valley northeast of Huntsville in Weber County, and can be observed from one of the usual places, Middlefork Lane. To get there, travel east on SR-39 from I-15 exit 344, 12th Street. Pass through Ogden Canyon, along the south shore of Pineview Reservoir, and east of Huntsville. When SR-39 takes a 90-degree east turn toward Monte Cristo, pass that by and continue north for .2-.3 miles. DON’T bear west toward Eden and Liberty on SR-166; continue north on 7800E. for about ¾ mile and turn east on Middlefork Lane. Drive to the end of the cul-de-sac and park. Listen for the Bobolink’s distinct song; scan fence lines and irrigation equipment for perched birds.

    

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