A "lifer"

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

I'm always fond of telling people that, in spite of all the years I've 
spent birding, all the time I spend in the field and the fact that 
these days I rarely see a life bird, every day in the field I see 
something I've never seen and learn something I didn't know. It was 
especially true last night.

I was out working on a project looking for Snowy Plover and American 
Avocet nests on the west side of the Great Salt Lake when I came upon a 
a group of three avocet nests along a dike road. The first two nests 
each had one egg and no adult birds present, indicating that they are 
new nests, as avocets normally have four eggs per nest. On the third 
nest there was a female avocet on the nest, but only two eggs in the 
nest. The female was glued to the nest, and wouldn't leave even when I 
walked up to it to mark the location with my GPS. This seemed odd to 
me, since she shouldn't have been incubating yet because she hadn't 
laid a full clutch, and should have flown off as soon as I approached. 
After I backed off to a respectful distance, I looked at her closely 
with my binoculars. Her lower belly appeared a bit swollen, and 
something seemed to be trying to protrude from her vent. Her odd 
behavior was then clear to me. She squatted on the nest, and produced 
egg number three. After a minute to rearrange the eggs in the nest, she 
flew off.

As best as I can remember, it's the first time I've ever watched a wild 
bird lay an egg.

As far as other sightings go, I'm sorry that I haven't had time to post 
anything lately because I've been in the field continually since the 
beginning of May. I get today off because my client isn't feeling well. 
Here's a few interesting things we've seen in the past week or so:

Gray Partridge - a pair by Nucor Steel at Plymouth in the evening 5/31
American Bittern - along the state highway about 2 miles south of 
Woodruff, 5/30
Northern Goshawk - Logan Canyon, along the highway 1 mile above Beaver 
Mountain 5/19
Broad-winged Hawk - Deseret Ranch, 5/22
Marbled Godwit - one lingering at Deseret Ranch, 5/28
Red-necked Phalarope - a few still at Deseret Ranch, 5/28
Flammulated Owl - fabulous looks at Deseret Ranch, 5/28
Short-eared Owl - unbelievable! fledglings all over the roads in the 
evening of 5/31 near Nucor Steel at Plymouth and the lower part of 
Johnson Canyon - we must have seen at least 30-40 different individuals
Common Poorwill - (for you Kris) great looks on the road in Johnson 
Canyon - sitting in the road and flying overhead too close for 
binoculars, 5/31
Common Nighthawk - first of the season for me, 5/30, just south of 
Randolph, also 5/31 near Tremonton
Calliope Hummingbird - Deseret Ranch, 5/29
Eastern Kingbird - Deseret Ranch and just south of Randolph along the 
highway, 5/29-30
Plumbeous Vireo - lots along Johnson Pass by Dugway 6/1
Gray Catbird - lots at Deseret Ranch
Yellow-breasted Chat - lots at Deseret Ranch
Lark Bunting - 2 at Deseret Ranch, 5/30 - the only two I've seen on the 
ranch this year, quite a contrast to the 100's there last year
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - beautiful young male at Deseret Ranch, 5/26
Common Grackle - Deseret Ranch, hanging around the house at the feeders

Good birding!

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

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