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I birded the North Arm Nature Area of Pineview
Reservoir in Weber County today and saw another male Calliope Hummingbird.
I know, I know! I feel guilty--two is more than my
share. Unlike the one that came to my feeder last night, I believe
the one at the North Arm may stick around for two reasons. The North Arm
offers good Calliope Hummingbird habitat in the form of streamside
brush. In addition, the hummingbird was also displaying in great
"U"-shaped swoops. I didn't find a female, but I did find his little patch
of yellow flowering shrubs. I watched him fly under heavy overhanging
branches and sip nectar from many blossoms in his secret pantry. He posed
at the top of several bare branches for long periods and showed off every
posture. He really looked like a busybody as he turned this way and
that. At one point, he turned away from me and his gorget feathers
appeared black and stuck out from his body like an unkempt ZZ Top beard.
He also posed in bright sunlight and seemed to flash that brilliant,
magenta-streaked gorget toward the eastern sun. I had the chance to watch
him for about 20 minutes. Please reply if you'd like specific
directions to the hummingbird's location.
The North Arm was alive with Yellow Warblers,
American Goldfinches and Fox Sparrows singing (and sometimes
scratch-scratching) their little hearts out. I also saw American White
Pelicans, White-faced Ibises, Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese with goslings,
Mallards, Gadwall, a Northern Shoveler, three Osprey, a Red-tailed Hawk, an
American Kestrel, Turkey Vultures, American Coots, a Wilson's Snipe out in the
field cranking out "Wick-a, wick-a, wick-a" and flying up and down as
if he were a lark, Mourning Doves, heard a Broad-tailed Hummingbird,
Yellow-rumped Warblers, Song Sparrows, Mourning Doves, a Belted
Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, a Downy Woodpecker, American Magpies and
Crows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, heard a
House Wren, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Red-winged
Blackbirds, a female Lazuli Bunting, and Spotted Towhees.
Additional species around Pineview Reservoir or
Ogden Valley included Common Loons, Western and Clark's Grebes, a Cattle
Egret, Common Mergansers, American Avocets, California, Franklin's, and
Ring-billed Gulls, Barn and Tree Swallows, a female 'Myrtle' Yellow-rumped
Warbler, and Western Kingbirds.
At the Powder Mountain parking lot at the top of UT
158, I saw or heard Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets,
Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Red-naped Sapsucker, a Downy Woodpecker, Mountain
Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows, Cassin's Finches, and Pine Siskins.
The North Arm Nature Area is located on UT 158
between mm 3 and 4. UT 158 begins at Pineview Dam and UT 39. Be
aware that the North Arm's mature shrubs and deciduous trees suffered
significant winter damage and many living and dead branches have
fallen over the trails.
Kris
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