Utah County Birders Newsletter
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Contents
February Meeting
Upcoming Field Trips
Ned's Notes
What
Do Your Dues Do?
Miscellaneous Information
Bird of the Month
Backyard Bird of the Month
FEBRUARY MEETING:
Thursday,
February 11th.
Behind the Door
Tour of The Bean Museum - A private tour of the collection rooms in
the BYU Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. Come see the other animal collections
[not just birds] - mammals, herps, insects, plants and others. Should be an
informative evening of our own UCB Meeting House.
Meet at 7:00 PM in the Bean Museum Auditorium on the BYU Campus.
Feb 20, 2010: Delta Snow Goose Festival
- Will also visit Clear Lake Waterfowl Management Area if time, weather, and
road conditions permit. Leave Payson WalMart at 7 am. Trip will run from 7 am -
12 pm. Please plan on carpooling with others. see
http://www.deltagoosefestival.info/ for Festival info.
We are actively recruiting people to lead local half-day field
trips, any time, any place. If you would like to lead a field trip or if you
have any ideas for this year’s field trips, please contact Lu Giddings at -
seldom74@xmission.com.
Ned’s Notes
By Ned Hill – President, Utah County Birders
“Birding In Ecuador—Part 1: Yanacocha Preserve”
Some of you have suggested that I chronicle some of the birding adventures I’ve
had in South America these past few years. I’ll start with an excursion four of
us plus our guide took into the highlands and rain forest of Ecuador in November
2008. My friend Robert Parsons (some of you might remember his father, Professor
Robert Parsons of BYU’s School of Religious Education who was an avid birder in
Utah County for many years) found out about a guide named Rudy Gelis of Pluma
Verde Tours who conducted birding tours in Ecuador and Peru. Robert had engaged
Rudy to guide a few family members after they had taken a trip to the Galapagos
Islands the previous year and found him to be excellent. It’s important to go
with a guide who not only knows and loves birds but also understands the country
and language and knows how to work with birders. Rudy does all of this superbly
well. He’s originally from West Virginia and Florida but has lived in Ecuador
now for about 13 years. He is 6’7” and is the fastest person I’ve ever seen for
getting on a rare bird and then getting the group on the bird before it flies
away. And he’s a lot of fun to be with. We trusted Robert’s recommendation and
signed Rudy up to guide Robert, his son Daniel (both from Maryland), my friend
Rich Vial (from Seattle) and me for a two-week adventure that ended just before
Thanksgiving.
Why Ecuador? While it’s only a little larger than the state of Utah, it is home
to about 1600 bird species. The towering mountains of the Andes run down the
middle with moist foothills on either side. In the west are dry forests and in
the east lies the diversity-rich rain forest of the Amazonian Basin. While Peru
and Colombia have about 1800 species each, they are many times the size of
Ecuador. Plus, Colombia still has some dangerous areas. In contrast, Ecuador is
a very safe country to visit with excellent lodges and relatively good roads
making for pleasant travel between birding “hot spots.” Ecuador boasts 130
species of hummingbirds, 137 different tanagers, 19 toucans, 3 quetzals, 21
manakins, 142 antbirds, 78 funariids (ovenbirds), and a whopping 210
flycatchers! So, for the biggest “bangs-for-the-buck” in terms of species a
birder can likely encounter, Ecuador is the answer.
Day 1—Yanacocha Preserve on the Side of the Pichincha Volcano
After arriving late the night before from the States and finding the
unmistakable Rudy towering above everyone else in the Quito airport, we got a
short night’s sleep in preparation for an early morning pick-up. We headed west
out of Ecuador’s capital city, located almost right on the Equator in the
Inter-Andean Plain ringed by high mountains, some with active volcanoes. As we
began to rise in elevation, we began to encounter our first Ecuadorean species:
Rufous-collared Sparrow (abundant), the striking Golden-bellied
Grosbeak, Great Thrush and a fly-by Aplomado Falcon.
But we didn’t stop to look too carefully as our destination was the Jocotoco Foundation’s Yanacocha Preserve on the slop of the 13,000 ft. Pichincha Volcano. It is a 2,000 acre site for the study of birds of the Western Andean Foothills. It encompasses the entire range of the endangered Black-Breasted Puffleg (a hummingbird) and other high-altitude specialties. We parked at the research station and began hiking along the wooded slope of the volcano. Our first birds were Bar-bellied Woodpecker, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Rufous Wren, Spectacled Whitestart and White-banded Tyrannulet. Blue-and-white and Brown-bellied Swallows soared overhead. We heard a bird calling incessantly from a thicket just off the trail. With patience, Rudy had us stay very still while he played the call of the bird a few times—it finally popped into view—an Ash-colored Tapaculo. Tapaculos are the true skulkers of tropical birding. They are easily heard but hardly ever seen. It was a rare treat to actually see one. We heard two other species of Tapaculos but could not see them at that time. We also heard several Antpittas calling: Chestnut-crowned, Rufous and Tawny but could not find one. I had never before seen an antpitta so I was very keen to find one on this trip. Overhead we encountered a mixed flock containing the gorgeous Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, plus Hooded Mountain-Tanager and Superciliaried Hemispingus. What a name that last fellow has! We also found both Cinereous and Blue-backed Conebill, both higher-altitude specialists along with Glossy and White-sided Flowerpiercer. Flowerpiercers are interesting birds. They consume nectar but they don’t go through the opening of the flower as hummingbirds do. Instead they take a shortcut using their sharp bills to pierce through the base of the flower and sucking out the juices!
At the end of the two-mile or so trail, we reached a hummingbird feeding station with benches and sugar-water feeders all around. With great relief, we sat down for a snack and began a visual feast. Hummingbirds were darting everywhere from flowers to feeders to trees. It was hard to decide what to focus on. Rudy kept pointing out different species to us and hollering out their names: Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Mountain Velvetbreast, Great Sapphirewing (three together at one feeder), Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Sapphire-vented Puffleg, Golden-breasted Puffleg and Tyrian Metaltail. Such a display of colors, sizes and shapes. Then, overhead, high in a tree sat the granddaddy of them all: the incredible Swordbilled Hummingbird! This species boasts the longest bill in the hummingbird world. It feeds from the deep-throated Brugmansia flowers. Sometimes, a Swordbill came down to a nectar feeder; but it had to hover 5-6 inches above the level of the other hummers in order to get its bill into the shallow opening. I had seen swordbills in the field guide but I didn’t realize we’d be able to get such good looks at them and snap a few photographs, too. Unfortunately, no Black-Breasted Pufflegs were to be seen. Rudy has not seen them now for a year or more.
On the way back Rudy became very excited. Overhead we had spotted a couple of large birds soaring—eagles apparently. As they wheeled, turned and came closer, we could make out the dark bodies patched with cinnamon—Black-and-Chestnut Eagles! They are fairly rare and only one nest has ever been studied of this species. We learned that Rudy is an expert on bird nests and has participated in 50-60 ornithological papers reporting on bird nests.
We heard a very loud call from the underbrush—an Ocellated Tapaculo, Rudy told us. THE tapaculo of South America—almost never seen. He played his tape and got the bird to come closer. He used his voice, too, mimicking the bird’s loud call. Dan and I sat carefully on the trail straining our eyes and ears to find the bird. I finally saw movement in the underbrush and in the shadows saw the red and black bird with white spots on it as it stealthily moved away down the hill. What fun to have seen two tapaculos in one day.
We ate the lunch Rudy had packed for us and began the drive down towards our home for the next three nights—Septimo Paraiso Lodge. On the way, we stopped by a small river and found a couple of White-capped Dippers the only dipper in South America. It’s the one dipper that doesn’t actually “dip” into the water. It just eats insects near the water’s edge. A Masked Trogon perched in a tree nearby and very familiar Cattle Egret flew lazily over a small field. We were anxious to see what we could discover at our new, lower altitude location.
Next: The Mindo Cloud Forest Preserve
“What Do Your Dues Do?”
(Utah Birds website report)
by Milt Moody
What do your dues do? A male Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) was brazenly and
persistently asking that question the other morning and I thought he deserves an
answer .
So, the main things that your dues do are: fund the Utah County Birders
newsletter, pay for prizes if we have a contests, sometimes provide for some of
the food, plates or utensils for our annual pot luck dinner AND pay the monthly
web-site-provider fee (which is where I’m headed with all this). Here’s a little
something about the web-site for all of you “share holders.”
Every once in a while I check ask.com to see how our web site is doing – they
provide some free web-site info as a hook to get you to buy more, but your dues
don’t go for such frivolous things, you’ll be happy to know. Here’s some of the
free info I got: For the year 2009, the best month for “unique visitors” (UV’s
we’ll call them) was June with 16,300 different computers finding our web site –
I would have guessed maybe May would be the biggest month, but maybe everyone’s
out in the field. The slowest month was December with 5,214 UV’s – due to
Christmas shopping? or Christmas bird counting? A quick calculation comes up
with 8,730 average UV’s per month for 2009 (I couldn’t find a state site with
more than this). Since there are only 431 e-mail addresses on the birdnet
hotline, that leaves 8,299 “unique visitors” unaccounted for (I’m assuming that
all birders in Utah are unique and beautiful in their own way). The Photo
Gallery is the main destination for our web site users with over 7, 000 “unique
photos” (an average of over 17 photos for each of Utah 444 species–since I’ve
got my calculator out). These are varied pictures of males, females, juveniles,
action shots, etc., from over 160 “unique photographers” who are sending in
better and better pictures all the time–it’s no surprise that the bird pictures
are the favorite thing on the web site–we’ve got some great ones! Who are these
unaccounted-for visitors? Well, about half of them are referrals from Google as
might be expected, but the rest could be anybody from anywhere, but if they’re
interested in birds, they must be nice (and unique) people as all of us birders
are.
Thanks to all who have contributed your sightings, photos, information, etc., to
the web site and a special thanks to Eric Huish for all of his behind-the-scenes
work that is seldom heard about, AND thanks to all you due payers who support
this unique cause.
Dennis Shirley
is the new program director for the club. Many thanks to him for his
willingness to take on this responsibility.
2010 UCB Birding Challenge http://www.utahbirds.org/ucb/specialreports/2010BirdingChallenge.pdf
There is also a link on the Utah County Birders Web Page at http://www.utahbirds.org/ucb/
Great Backyard Bird Count February 12
– 15
www.birdcount.org for more info
Membership List
It has been quite a while since we have sent out a new membership list. We list
your name, phone number, address and email address. If you have had phone or
email changes in the past couple of years, email or call me with the changes (CherylPeterson@gmail.com
or 375-1914). I can list both home and cell numbers. If you don't want to be
listed, please let me know as soon as possible. I will mail out copies of the
list in the newsletter in the next couple of months. If you don't want to
receive one, let me know. For those of you who pay dues and don't receive the
hard copy of the newsletter, let me know if you want me to send you a list.
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photo by Jack Binch |
Bird of the Month
Long-eared Owl
(Asio otus)
by Ned Bixler
While birding the Provo Airport dikes, with Eric Huish on January 6th, we saw a Long-eared Owl. Later that day we also had a chance to show the owl to Reed Stone. It was sitting in a small tree on the west dike. The same day, we birded the Utah Lake State Park and found a second Long-eared Owl. A week later (13th) the owl was still at the airport, but the one at Utah Lake SP was gone. Subsequently, Leena Rogers reported that she and Milt Moody saw the owl at the airport.
The Long-eared Owl is medium-sized. It is strictly nocturnal and is secretive. It has a rust-colored facial disk and yellow eyes. The long feathered ear tusks are closer together than those of the great horned owl. They are not ears, but do serve to help camouflage by making it appear like a broken tree branch. While often silent, they can make catlike noises or twitter like a canary when dawn nears.
The owl roosts in woods, thick forests, and shrublands. It hunts in open areas such as farmlands, prairies, and meadows and marshes near-by. Their nests can be found in abandoned nests of crows, magpies, or herons, or maybe in a tree cavity. To its nest it may add strips of bark or leaves and feathers from the female’s breast. The female may lay from three to eight white eggs with an incubation period of three or four weeks.
The diet of the long-eared owl consists of small mammals and rodents. It may sometimes prey on bats or songbirds.
In winter, they may form communal roosts of up to 50 or more birds. This is usually in dense conifers.
There has been a general decline of the long-eared owl population, primarily in the West, due to forest cutting and the loss of riparian habitats. The life span in North America has reached nine years, but the breeding population in the United States has not been determined.
The above
information can be found in
Owls of the United States and Canada
by Wayne Lynch, published by Johns Hopkins University in 2007, page 29; and on
page 243 of Stokes western region field guide, c. 1996.
January 2010
Bruce Robinson – West Jordan
Sharp-shinned Hawk -
Hawk - 1 Starling - 0
Milt Moody – Provo
Sharp-shinned Hawk
chasing the other birds
Tuula Rose – Provo
Three Red-winged Blackbirds eating sunflower seeds. An odd sight next to
the House Finches!
Steve Carr - Holladay
Red-breasted Nuthatch
- 2 of them enjoying suet, peanuts, sunflower seed chips.
Dennis Shirley – Elk
Ridge
As reported last week I had an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK perched at my
backyard feeders. A new yard bird. First new "category" bird of 2010!!
Eric Huish - Pleasant
Grove
A White-throated Sparrow and Bullock's Oriole - same as last
month.
Bonnie Williams –
Mapleton
Black-capped Chickadee
– the first bird in my yard to start the new year.
Cheryl Peterson – Provo
I have enjoyed watching the Eurasian Collared-Doves and Mourning Doves
at my feeders.
Report your favorite backyard bird each month to Cheryl Peterson
at 801-375-1914 or
CherylPeterson@gmail.com
2010 Dues
Hey, the new year is here!! Thanks to all who have supported us in the past. If
you are interested in officially joining us this year, make out a check to Utah
County Birders for $15.00 and mail it to:
Carol Nelson
2831 Marrcrest West
Provo, Utah 84604
You will be helping to support the web page and we will send you a copy of the
newsletter.