Utah County Birders Newsletter
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Contents
September Meeting
Upcoming Field Trips
Captain's Log
Bird of the Month
Field Trip Report
Thursday, September 14th, 2017: Bean Museum, 7:00PM
Our meeting will be a focus on migration. In
preparation for our upcoming hawkwatch field trip we will talk about migration
and focus on some of the species that we may see during migration.
Address for the Monte L. Bean Museum is 645 East 1430 North, Provo, UT http://mlbean.byu.edu/
FIELD TRIPS:
Saturday, September 16th, 2017: Squaw
Peak Hawkwatch
Migration Hawk Watch with Hawkwatch and GSLA starting at 10am at the Squaw
Peak lookout (accessed from Provo Canyon). Here are the event details with a
map:
https://hawkwatch.org/participate/calendar/migration-sites/350-hawkwatching-at-squaw-peak
If you're planning on going, PLEASE REGISTER for the trip on the event page
(it's free) so that we have contact information for everyone planning to attend
should we have to cancel or change plans due to weather or other unforeseen
circumstances.
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 Keeli at -
keeli.marvel@gmail.com
Utah County Birders
Captain’s Log: September
2017
by Keeli Marvel
Hello friends! I was hoping to have an awesome story to tell you about new birds
seen on my most recent trip to Glacier National Park, but sadly, I got totally
skunked! It’s been awhile since I’ve bombed on every single one of my target
birds. I blame the abnormally warm August weather and the wildfires currently
ravaging Montana, but also, bad luck sometimes just happens, right? Right? Maybe
it’s just me. Hah! I guess I’ll tell you what I was hoping to find but didn’t.
My husband and I spent two days in Glacier NP. The first day we spent on one of
the famous Red Bus Tours. One of our old UCB members, Doug Mead, has been
driving the tours the last couple of summers in the park.
Keeli with Doug Mead in Glacier National Park
Our tour was the Mountain Majesty tour which drove up the Going to the Sun Road from the Apgar Lodge with our turn around point at Two Dog Flats Grill on the other side by Lake Mary. This was hands down the best tour I’ve ever been on in a National Park, and Doug has a gift for storytelling! It was so great to see him and, while we didn’t see much in the way of birds on our tour, we did see Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep and a bear and the most amazing scenery with a fascinating narrative from Doug describing the geology and history and biology of the park. Doug gave me pointers for birding the next day, so the next morning I headed back into the park from the East side. My first stop was at the overlook for Goose Island on Lake Mary on the East side of Glacier NP. There I saw Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees and House Finches. From there, I drove up Going to the Sun Road to the burned area around Sunrift Gorge where I hiked a short way up the trail looking for Black-backed Woodpeckers. No luck. Dead quiet actually, but the gorge itself is beautiful.
Remnants of the 2015 burn near Sunrift Gorge Sunrift Gorge
Then, I headed up to Piegan Pass for a short hike into the high altitude scraggly conifers to look for Boreal Chickadees. I found a Steller’s Jay, some White-crowned Sparrows and one very skulky warbler that was either a Nashville or a MacGillivrays. But, no Boreal Chickadees. Lots of quiet. I pulled off at most of the turnouts on the way back to listen for birds, but it really was strangely quiet. I guess that’s the way it is sometimes with birding in August.
Piegan Pass
I just heard actually that they closed the Lake McDonald lodge in the park and
shut down the tours right after we left because of the fire, which is
unfortunate! I guess we got lucky that we got to see what we did. Even with the
heat and the smoke from the fires, the views were unforgettable. I highly
recommend a visit to Glacier, and taking Doug’s tour if he’s back there again
next year!!
In other news, I’m writing this before jetting down to St. George for a quick
overnight stay. I’ll report back if I see anything interesting in the way of
birds down there. Migration has started! Keep your eyes to the skies and Happy
Birding!
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Photo by Jerry Liguori, taken in the Goshute Mountains, Tooele County, UT 1999 |
Northern Goshawk
Accipiter gentilis
By Machelle Johnson
It seems to me that there have been more sightings of Northern Goshawks this
year than in recent years, or maybe it’s because more and more people are using
eBird. Unfortunately I haven’t been one of the lucky ones.
This beautiful accipiter is one that I would really like to see and watch.
There’s something about the blue-gray coloring, the broad eye stripe, the red
eye, and the overall bad-boy look to this bird that makes it intriguing to me.
It is the size of a Red-tailed Hawk with a smallish head, a long neck, a long
tubular body, and a long broad tail. Overall gray – darker gray above, pale gray
below with dense barring on the breast. It is considered an ‘uncommon but
widespread’ raptor of northern and higher-altitude forests, and a permanent
resident in most of Utah.
They are stealthy predators that watch for prey from a perch and then attack
with quick, agile flight, even through dense trees or cluttered understory. Pete
Dunne says “this perch-hunting raptor has little patience. Hunts by alternating
short flights and periods of perch-hunting that commonly do not last longer than
10-15 mins. Generally hunts low, taking perches in the understory level. Using
surprise, Goshawk may glide to a kill, but accelerates quickly if detected,
often crashing through brush in the process. If unsuccessful, pursues prey
tenaciously both in the air and not uncommonly on foot.” Wow, wouldn’t that be
something to watch! (One time I saw a Sharpie take a Robin in the air, it took
it right to the ground, in the snow, and sat on it for a second, then it took
off with it. Amazing!)
We are so lucky to live in Utah and have such a wonderful variety of habitats
and birds! It is truly awesome to me to think that I can drive up to the
mountains in the morning and out to the lake in the afternoon and evening, and
see so many different and amazing birds and wildlife. Facebook and eBird have
changed the birding game by getting information out quickly when rare and
exciting birds are spotted. I don’t know about you but I am often ‘skunked’ when
I ‘chase’ something that’s been reported, but in reality, a bad day birding is
better than a good day at work any day right!!
References: Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion, allaboutbirds.org
If you would like to
write an article for the Bird of the Month, please contact
Machelle -
machelle13johnson@yahoo.com
Click here for past 'Birds of the Month'.
No official reports from the August field trips.
Printable Version of this UCB Newsletter