Utah County Birders Newsletter
October 2000
MEETING:
Wednesday October 18th at 7:00 pm in the Bean Museum Auditorium on the BYU Campus.
featuring Dr. Wayne Whaley
Dr. Whaley, a Professor of Biology at UVSC, is a noted Lepidopterist Ecologist. He will speak to us about butterflies in our locale area and the world. Please bring interested friends and neighbors.
FIELD TRIPS:
Thursday October 19th
Half day - Meet at Bean Museum at 7:00 am,
we'll be back around noon.
Destination will be announced at Wednesday Meeting
Saturday October 28th
Full Day - Meet at Bean Museum at 6:30 am
we'll be chasing any Hotline birds in northern Utah.
Saturday November 18th
Full Day - Details to be announced
Tuesday November 28th
Half Day - Details to be announced
For Want of an Idea
by Darlene Amott
When it came time to write a message for October, no
idea would come to mind. Perhaps that was a fortuitous happening, because my
mind began to wander and I found myself thinking of words. Eureka! What better
topic could I have. Words are fun.
Anticipation was the first word that came to mind as I was
anticipating a revelation, something that would give me some direction for
writing. Anticipation was the word I used almost two years ago as I began my
tenure as club president. I was anticipating what would be required for that
assignment. Now I anticipate each outing as I wonder what will unfold.
Comradery is another word that came to mind. As I mentioned
in August, we are social animals, and we thoroughly enjoy being together,
talking together, and sharing together. There are those who enjoy birding alone,
I don't. The real joy in finding a bird is to be able to share the excitement
with someone else.
One word I couldn't bypass was sensitivity. How can people who love
birds enjoy being out without being sensitive to things around them, to the
color, shape, sound and smell of all things.
Understanding was another of the words that came to mind. How well
do we understand birds. Does it help to understand something of their habitat
needs, their food needs, their social patterns, etc?
Words began to flow through my mind. Some that came to mind were
happiness, excitement, beauty, and even fatigue, heat, cold, mud, dust, and,
finally, sheer joy. Don't we have a wide range of experiences in this birding
business? Think about it the next time you are out, and savor every minute just
as it is.
Wandering New Paths
by Robin Tuck
I had heard there was a newly completed road from
Woodland to Tabiona over Wolf Creek Pass but had not driven it. Several months
ago, I took my young son and scouted out some places to take our local Boy Scout
group. We drove up the Mirror Lake highway, paid our $3 toll, and took the dirt
road into the Soapstone Basin. We ended up driving to a small lake on Iron
Mountain at the end of a very bad 10 mile rocky road where Jorgen and I hiked
and fished, the real purpose of the trip.
Coming home, I remembered the Wolf Creek Pass road, consulted the
map and headed for it. The Soapstone Basin road meets Highway 32, the Wolf Creek
Pass road about 10 miles uphill from Woodland and was a wonderful road to come
home on. After finding the Sabine's Gull reported at Deer Creek recently, Julie
and I decided to explore the new road to it's summit. We drove past Jordanelle
on Highway 32 toward Kamas but kept going straight at Francis and were soon on
the new highway. The road is excellent, with a steady rate of climb and broad
sweeping turns. There are frequent turnouts along the way with several large
parking areas at trail heads. We must have gone on the opening of Elk Season,
because the road was alive with pickups with orange-clad men carrying rifles.
Every now and then, we would see antlers sticking out of the pickup bed and hear
a rifle shot in the distance. Not being dressed in orange, Julie and I decided
we would not wander too far from the road staying close to the car. The most
notable bird we saw on the trip was a large number of Mountain Bluebirds we
found at the summit. We did not find our target bird, the Juniper Titmouse even
though we did wind up a dirt road into a stand of junipers.
This road essentially parallels the Mirror lake highway for about
20 miles about 4 to 6 miles south of it but travels through a slightly different
habitat. It is well worth the trip and doesn't have that pesky $3 stopping and
parking fee. A nice trip would be to drive up the Mirror Lake highway then,
coming down, take the Soapstone road over to Highway 32 and return on it, after
exploring to the summit.