February’s Utah County Birders meeting features our own Dennis Shirley, the new Utah Big Year record holder with 332 species during 2004. All 332 species were seen with no audibles listed. Utah has 426 species on the most recent checklist. Dennis’ enthusiasm is contagious and you will want to listen to his account of his record setting year.

Elsewhere in this newsletter are details about the meeting which includes Dennis’ presentation, awards for many birders, dinner, and surprises according to the 2004 Birding Challenge committee consisting of Leena Rogers, Tuula Rose, and Milt Moody. All birders and nonbinding spouses, friends and associates are invited.

While thinking about Dennis’ Big Year, I recalled another Big Year featured in a book entitled Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. Kenn managed to do what other birders only dream of doing: take a year and chase birds from one end of the country to another. I’ve had thoughts about doing something similar until the alarm goes off reminding me of my day job and other responsibilities to which I failed to say no to.

At 16, with his parents' blessing, Kenn dropped out of school and began doing cross-country birding by hitchhiking around the country. His knowledge of birds grew and his contacts with other birders increased. In 1973 and at the age of 19, he decided to go for a Big Year in which he attempted to break the record for most birds seen in a year.

Kingbird Highway is about Kenn’s "Big Year." He planned to show up at the right habitats at the right moments to bag birds he needed for a record one year tally. At that time, ornithologists figured 650 species lived in the United States and Canada, plus visitors. (Currently, the ABA area consisting of the United States and Canada lists 932 species.) Nobody, it was assumed, could possibly see them all in one lifetime. Roger Tory Peterson, in 1953, totaled 572 species. In 1956, a lister hit 598. But by 1973 publications detailed which birds hung out at virtually all key North American sites. And a birder grapevine allowed no rarity showing up without birders converging within hours. When Kaufman began, the Big Year record stood at 626.

The book is a joy to read, and one that's hard to put down. During his Big Year of birding. Kaufman slept under bridges, ate cat food to save money, hitchhiked, and picked apples for traveling money. In one year, Kenn traveled 80,000 miles, saw 666 species of birds from Alaska to Florida, and spent less than $1000 in doing so (half of the $1,000 was for two flights to Alaska).

You will have to come to the meeting to find out if Dennis ate cat food, hitchhiked, and slept under bridges. He truly made a Herculean effort to set the Utah record. Not only is he one of the Utah’s foremost birding experts, he willingly shares his expertise, and is fun to be around. Congratulations, Dennis!

Utah County Birders at the Provo Cemetery.  January 15, 2005          photo by Eric Huish

On Saturday (January 15^th)15 Utah County Birders met at 8:00 am for a field trip to our area cemeteries. Tuula Rose was our leader.

East Lawn Cemetery was our first stop. We saw 14 species at and around East Lawn. Our first sighting was of a Steller’s Jay, then some American Robins and a dozen Cedar Waxwings in a tree near where we parked. Other species at East Lawn were; Northern Flicker, Western Scrub-Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Brown Creeper, Townsend’s Solitaire, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and House Finch. To add to all the birds we also got to see a cute little cottontail. On our way out, just down the road from the cemetery, we found a flock of Wild Turkey.

Our next stop was Provo City Cemetery where we counted 13 species. Our first bird here was a Red-breasted Nuthatch that was calling from the tall evergreens above where we parked. The best bird at Provo Cemetery was probably the Golden-crowned Kinglet which most everyone was excited to see. Other bird here were; Black-billed Magpie, Black-capped Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Solitaire, American Robin, European Starling, House Finch and Pine Siskin.

At Evergreen Cemetery we only saw 9 species, 3 of which weren’t seen by everyone. The lack of species was made up for by the number of birds and quality of species. Our first birds here were a flock of Evening Grosbeaks feeding in a couple junipers at the edge of the cemetery. At closer inspection the trees were also filled with Mountain Chickadees and Juniper Titmice. As if that wasn’t enough activity a flock of Cedar Waxwings flew into the very same trees. Other birds seen at Evergreen included; Norther Flicker and American Kestrel. Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron were seen flying in the distance by a couple birders and a Townsend’s Solitaire was also seen by a few of the participants.

Other Trip birds included; Lewis’s Woodpeckers seen at ‘the usual place’, a dark morph Red-tail Hawk near Salem and Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck Common Goldeneye, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird and House finch at some of the ponds in Salem.

Our trip total was 37 species. Trip participant were; Aaron & Shauna, Alona, Alton, Bonnie, Carol Jean, Darlene, Eric, Flora, Leena, Matt ((from Toronto), Melanie, Milt, Reed, and our leader Tuula. We all had a great time and I’m looking forward to many more great UCB field trips.

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Field Trip Report
Heber, Francis, Kamas - January 22, 2005
by Tuula Rose

Utah County Birders, Mirror Lake Highway - Jan 22, 05 photo by Eric Huish

Due to the reality of fog in Provo/Orem and the prospect of encountering pea soup in SL Valley, the Saturday Jan 22nd UCB Field Trip was revised at the last moment (7.09 or so am, common consent) and we headed for Heber-Francis-Kamas via Provo Canyon. Turned out to be the right decision because the fog vanished the minute we got into the canyon and sunshine and warm weather were with us the whole way into the mid-afternoon.

I counted 30 species for the day, the best one being a bonus WHITE-THROATED SPARROW in Francis that wasn't even on our wish list. We went after rosy finches that Lu Giddings reported on Lower River Road, lucked out on those and ended up further down the road in front of a house with feeders, where God-Bless-Him-Eric found the sparrow. A few minutes before we had just seen a flock of 30-40 GREATER SAGE GROUSE fly over the road, over the fields and disappear over the next hill. We didn't even know sage grouse can fly that far.

No Bohemian Wax Wings in Kamas, Oakley or Peioa, so up the Mirror Lake Highway we went. Aaron soon spotted three RED CROSSBILLS right on the road, right in front of his car. Looked like they were picking up grit off the asphalt having to turn their heads sideways to make bill contact with ground. Those specialized beaks don't work as well on a flat surface as they do on pine cones. We had great looks of these beautiful birds.

Besides hoards of snow-mobilers, snowshoers and skiers, we saw TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and BROWN CREEPERS up by Soapstone Basin.

On the way home, quick stops by Jordanelle Wetlands and Wasatch Mountain Park produced the usuals like DIPPER, RING-NECKED DUCK and BUFFLEHEAD. In Provo Canyon by Deer Creek Reservoir the two cars bringing up the rear of the expedition stopped to check out some ducks and were treated to a great display of soaring GOLDEN and BALD EAGLES, eight in all, sprinkled with a couple of red-tails.

A great trip! Join us for the next one, Feb 12th, 7:00 am Orem Center Street Park & Ride. We'll go to Farmington Bay, AIC etc.