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McMurdie Hollow Road/Cache County



Thanks to James Lofthouse for his tip on the good birding along McMurdie Hollow Road in Cache County.  He birded the riparian eastern part of the road on 28 June; I birded the desert grass/sage-steppe western part on Saturday morning.  I found this was a good place to study young sparrows.  I saw Vesper, Brewer's, Lark, and Chipping.  It took me some studious gawking to discern that the quiet and very small sparrow staring back at me from a willow was an immature and quite nondescript Brewer's.  I also saw a nice flurry of Orange-crowned Warblers on the western end of the road and Lazuli Buntings throughout.  I speculate that the male Lazulis migrate early. I only saw females or immatures on Saturday.  I also saw a female Selasphorus hummer, a Warbling Vireo, a House Wren, Western Kingbirds, a female Bullock's Oriole, Black-capped Chickadees (a surprise--gleaning from greasewood and in a willow), Red-winged Blackbirds, American Kestral, Northern Harrier, and two families of Mountain Bluebirds at the corrals on either side of the road about halfway between the highway and Paradise.  The muddy areas within the corrals were bee, wasp, and fly heaven and the bluebirds were making the most of it.  The oriole also joined in harvesting the bounty by perching low on fences with the bluebirds and flying down on the ground to snack.  I thought this was good bird activity for a hot morning.
 
Several first-year Red-tailed Hawks practiced their primal, hoarse screech--you know, the one moviemakers dub into every desert scene in a western to make you think it's not a set?  My live birds' screech came out a little thin and scratchy.  Their voices were not as weak as the Swainson's, but they still sounded like they needed more practice.  I also noticed these hawks sometimes overshot their perches or chose branches too small for their feet and thus ended up supported by foliage. 
 
Just after I pulled out of scrub oak and through grass and sage I found a several-hundred foot long patch of teasel in lavender bloom along the roadside.  The patch was a-flutter with a butterfly of the Checkerspot family, although I'm not sure which one.  I just had to count them and came up with 53.  The teasel was also alive with fritillaries, skippers, and an occasional cabbage butterfly. 
 
McMurdie Hollow Road has a dirt surface and is not marked in any way.  It connects UT 91/89 and Paradise just north of the Box Elder/Cache County line.  The road looks like a pasture entrance complete with fences on either side and a cattle guard, but there's no sign warning drivers to not tresspass. By way of landmarks, there's also a very large pile of dark gray landscaping rocks on the north side of the road after you turn east off the highway. Check James Lofthouse's 28 June birdtalk post for directions from the east end.
 
Kris