Wednesday March 9, 2005

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

Yesterday I went out for a day of birding with a birder from near 
Galveston, Texas. We covered quite a bit of ground in search of what 
would turn out to be 11 "lifers" for my client (ten planned and one 
bonus). The day started early at the feeders at Alta, and then 
continued with a trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon, a stop in Olympus Cove, 
then out to Antelope Island and finally to Bear River Refuge. In the 
fading light of the day we made a mad dash to the Nucor Steel plant at 
Plymouth to try for Gray Partridge. We finished with 75 species for the 
day (see list below), among which were a number of good birds and fun 
sightings. Some of the highlights were:

Both Black and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches at Alta.
Dippers singing (and batting those white eye-lids) at two places in Big 
Cottonwood Canyon; also an absolutely rabid flock of about 15 Mountain 
Chickadees, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 15-20 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 2 
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Juncos and 4 Cassin's Finches - I was lucky to get 
out of there with my head on :-).
On the Antelope Island Causeway we saw the Sanderling reported by Tim 
Avery along with 4 Least Sandpipers and a Killdeer on the rock "jetty" 
sticking out on the north side of the causeway between MM 1 & 2; we 
also saw a male Long-tailed Duck with a large raft of Common Goldeneye 
just northeast of the marina.
At Garr Ranch a Long-eared Owl (thanks to Bob Huntington for finding 
it), also 4 Mountain Bluebirds.
On the road to Bear River MBR, about 10 Snow Geese, 2 Sandhill Cranes, 
and 2 really stunning male Ring-necked Pheasants (can you say "breeding 
season?").
At least 10,000 Tundra Swans at Bear River, also an amazingly large 
number of Common Goldeneye, a Bald Eagle being chased by ravens, my 
first two Yellow-headed Blackbirds of the year (at least in the USA) 
and a large number of all the common waterfowl (my client said he'd 
never seen so many ducks, geese and swans in one place).
To end the day, two Gray Partridge scurrying along the roadside, 
stopping to "hide" behind a not-quite-thick-enough clump of grass, and 
then disappearing into the adjacent weedy field, at the crossroads at 
the back edge of the Nucor complex along the road to Johnson's Canyon.

It was a great day of birding!

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
westwings@sisna.com
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)


Bird List for the day:

A  = Alta
BCC = Big Cottonwood Canyon
O = Olympus Cove
AIC = Antelope Island Causeway
AI = Antelope Island
BR = Bear River MBR (including the road to the refuge)
N = near Nucor
W = widespread

Snow Goose (10,BR)
Canada Goose (W)
Tundra Swan (10,000, BR)
Gadwall (BR)
American Wigeon (AI,BR)
Mallard (W)
Cinnamon Teal (30-40, BR)
Northern Shoveler (AIC, BR)
Northern Pintail (BR)
Green-winged Teal (BR)
Canvasback (BR)
Redhead (BR)
Lesser Scaup (BR)
Long-tailed Duck (AIC)
Bufflehead (BR)
Common Goldeneye (AIC,BR)
Common Merganser (4,BR)
Ruddy Duck (AIC,BR)
Chukar (2,AI)
Gray Partridge (2,N)
Ring-necked Pheasant (BR)
California Quail (O)
Pied-billed Grebe (BR)
Eared Grebe (AIC)
American White Pelican (AIC,BR)
Double-crested Cormorant (AIC,BR)
Great Blue Heron (BR)
Bald Eagle (BR)
Northern Harrier (AI,BR)
Red-tailed Hawk (N)
American Kestrel (W)
American Coot (AIC,AI,BR)
Sandhill Crane (BR)
Killdeer (W)
Sanderling (AIC)
Least Sandpiper (AIC)
Ring-billed Gull (W)
California Gull (W)
Rock Pigeon (W)
Long-eared Owl (AI)
Hairy Woodpecker (BCC)
Northern Flicker (AI)
Say's Phoebe (AI)
Steller's Jay (A,BCC)
Western Scrub-Jay (O)
Clark's Nutcracker (A)
Black-billed Magpie (W)
Common Raven (W)
Horned Lark (AI,BR)
Black-capped Chickadee (BCC,O)
Mountain Chickadee (A,BCC)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (A,BCC)
Rock Wren (AI)
Marsh Wren (BR)
American Dipper (BCC)
Mountain Bluebird (AI)
American Robin (W)
European Starling (W)
American Pipit (BR)
Spotted Towhee (O)
Song Sparrow (W)
White-crowned Sparrow (AI)
Dark-eyed Junco (W)
Red-winged Blackbird (AI,BR)
Western Meadowlark (AI,BR)
Yellow-headed Blackbird (2,BR)
Brewer's Blackbird (AIC)
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (A)
Black Rosy-Finch (A)
Cassin's Finch (BCC)
House Finch (O)
Pine Siskin (A,BCC)
American Goldfinch (AI,BR)
House Sparrow (BR)

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