Owls and more . . .

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

I just finished a few days of some rather insane "target" birding 
through Utah with some birders from England. In spite of focusing on 
getting a few, specific bird species, and dodging some wild weather, we 
ended with a list of 192 species, that included a number of noteworthy 
birds.

Among the highlights were 10 species of owls - nine seen and one other 
heard. They were:

Barn Owl - seen at Antelope Island Causeway
Flammulated Owl - seen at Oak Grove Campground, Dixie NF
Western Screech-Owl - seen in Sugar House
Great Horned Owl - seen at Deseret Ranch, heard at Zion NP
Northern Pygmy-Owl - heard only at Zion NP
Burrowing Owl - seen at Deseret Ranch
Spotted Owl - seen at Zion NP
Long-eared Owl - seen at  Antelope Island (of course)
Short-eared Owl - at least 15 (!) seen north of the Nucor Steel Plant 
at Plymouth
Northern Saw-whet Owl - seen at Oak Grove Campground, Dixie NF

We also had 10 species of gallinaceous birds, including Gray Partridge, 
Ruffed, Greater Sage-, Blue and Sharp-tailed Grouse.

Some of the more unusual birds we saw were:

Greater Scaup - Hurricane Sewage Lagoons
Long-tailed Duck - Hurricane Sewage Lagoons
Great Egret - Ivins Reservoir, along I-15 south of exit 366, Brigham 
City
Black-bellied Plover - Chicken Creek Reservoir, Antelope Island Causeway
Red Knot - Antelope Island Causeway
Bonaparte's Gull - Hurricane Sewage Lagoons
Cassin's Kingbird - at least 3 about one mile east of the east  
entrance to Zion NP
Nashville Warbler - Dixie Red Hills Golf Course, St. George
Common Grackle - Deseret Ranch

Let me know if you'd like more information on any of these sightings.

It was a fun few days of birding!

Mark Stackhouse
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)

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