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Jim LaRue and myself spent 4 days this past
Labor Day weekend up in the top of the Henry's Fork Drainage in the
High Uintas Wilderness.
White-tailed Ptarmigan was the target specie. About
34 miles were covered on foot. Elevations were
from 8,500' to 11,800'. Temperatures from 20 to 65 degrees. The trip was
hampered by an 18-hour snow storm that kept us holed up in our
tents.
In places where I have encountered ptarmigan every
year since 1997 none could be found or heard. No fresh tracts were seen after
burning shoe leather in fresh snow over 9 miles or so of prime
ptarmigan habitat. Sheep, sheepherders, cowboys, horses, sheepdogs, upland
gamebird hunters and especially coyotes were abundant.
Highlights of the trip were a Great Blue Heron at
10,800' elevation, a vireo, and many (too many to count) Black
Rosy-Finches.
Noticeably absent were Blue Grouse, Belted
Kingfisher, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Hairy Woodpecker and
sapsuckers.
Birds of the trip were:
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Northern Goshawk
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
peeps
Common Snipe
Red-necked Phalarope
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Three-toed Woodpecker
Empids
Plumbeous Vireo
Gray Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
American Dipper
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco
Black Rosy-Finch
Pine Siskin
Tim Gorman
Evanston WY
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