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Did anyone else hear of a sale on tree sap at Garr
Ranch at Antelope Island today? I missed it, but six Red-naped Sapsuckers
must have heard about it. I found sapsuckers in a tree near the long shed
at the north end of the ranch, in trees near the barn, in tall trees over
the springhouse, and in Russian Olives along the south fence. Gee
willikers! It seemed like they were all over the place. Except for a
pursuit between one pair and a tiny, cat-like meowing conversation between
another pair, they were very, very quiet as is typical for this time of
year. It took some concentrated ear-straining to determine that the
quiet picking I heard high up was sapsuckers instead of trees creeking.
But sapsuckers they were, quietly working either sap wells with a
methodical side-to-side hopping on a trunk or bark crevices on several different
species of trees.
At one point I heard Red-naped Sapsuckers in stereo
in a row of Russian Olive trees along the south fence of the south
pasture. I brought up my binoculars to study a tree trunk, and a rather
well-hidden and very indolent-looking porcupine loomed large in my view, just 6
feet over my head. The porky was fast asleep and looked all the world
like a Cheetah in an Umbrella Tree on the Serengeti during the heat of the
day--completely conked out, legs dripping down on either side of the
branch. I could see the pads of the porcupine's feet and
eventually, I located its head. The wet nose twitched above the long,
Halloween-orange incisors. I wanted to tell it about all those whitening
toothpastes you can find in stores these days.
The ranch's diversity of species wasn't high this
morning, but here's what else I saw:
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail (audible only; two sounding off with
grating cranks out in the reeds)
Downy Woodpecker (a loud-mouthed towne crier in
comparison to the quiet sapsuckers)
Northern Flicker
Mystery Empid
Say's Phoebe
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped
Warblers
Vesper, Lark, Song, Lincoln's, and
White-crowned Sparrows
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
Pine Siskin
When you visit Garr, don't overlook the "other"
spring--the one south of the south pasture. The spring is clogged
with a thick knot of Russian Olives and the trees stand alone out in the golden
field. This spot has good possibilities, too. I've been there
twice in the last 2 weeks and the brush always produces a good crop of
sparrows. Last week, Jim Bailey and I watched a trial of life at that
location--a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk pursuing a small bird, perhaps a Pine
Siskin, in fast predatory loop-de-loops. Both birds ducked behind the
olive trees and we never learned the drama's denouement.
Finally, today I saw a phalarope at the marina that
really got my heart pounding. The bird foraged by whirly-gigging and
picking bugs off the surface as you'd expect. But I saw something out of
order with its plumage. The phalarope had a dark chin. Could it be a
Red Phalarope that hadn't yet lost the black summer feathers under its
chin? THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP! A much closer look revealed a sad
sight. The Red-necked Phalarope was completely in basic plumage, but
appeared to have a large black tumor growing under its beak and toward one
side. Not only did the tumor cause the bird's face to be badly
misshapen, but the phalarope couldn't close its fine, thin beak
completely. I'm afraid that's one bird that might not make the
journey.
Kris
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