UCB Newsletter

Thursday, July 12, 2018,

For our July meeting we are going to meet at Bridal Veil Falls and spend the evening looking for Black Swifts.
Meet at the Bridal Veil Falls Overlook (the parking area just off the highway, not down along the river).
7PM until dark.

Saturday, July 21st, 8 am -- Nebo Bench Trailhead
     We will meet at Payson Canyon Kiwanis Park, S Payson Canyon Rd, Payson, UT 84651
     Map: https://goo.gl/maps/c6AN4tiMMUx


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 Suzi Holt at - suzerqholt@gmail.com

*Sandhill Crane* (Antigone canadensis) by Milt Moody When I started birding some 20 years ago or so, we had to go to Heber Valley to see the Sandhill Cranes. Heber was in the southern most part of the breeding range for this species. Most Sandhill Cranes go to the isolated wet meadow of Canada to fine an appropriate nesting ground. Now they are also nesting here in Utah Valley and they’re becoming quite numerous.
A couple of weeks ago I took my nephew Derick and his wife Aubree, out towards Lincoln Beach to see some birds. In the large fields south of the beach we saw three pairs of Sandhill Cranes. Two of them had young chicks with them. We got out the scope and watch the nearest family as the youngster was jumping up and down and flapping its featherless wings as it tried to keep up with its parents. A week earlier perhaps the same parents were shielding the young one with their wings as a Northern Harrier patrolled the area. Harriers and other birds of prey along with foxes, racoons, wolves, cougars, etc. are on the look out for vulnerable young birds like this. It's a very dangerous world for young birds. The young chicks, known as colts, kind of stand out with their orangish-rust, fluffy feathers. They look somewhat awkward but are as cute as can be, which can be said for most young birds. Of course they have to grow quickly and learn how to fly and do the other crane-types of things so they will be ready to migrate south for the winter, where they usually congregate in large groups of cranes in low damp wetlands and roost at night in shallow standing water. The colts will stay with their parents 'till the next spring, eating roots, tubers, seeds, grains as well as other things found in the wet meadow environment which is ideal for young birds like this.	by Jim Bailey
Dancing Cranes by Lu Guddings
Sandhill Cranes are mature enough to mate in their second year. They mate for life and strengthen their bonds with dance, which takes place morning and evening on the roosting grounds and most usually during spring time although they can also dance other times of the year as well. During migration they gather in large groups on their way to the breeding grounds where unattached cranes can find a mate. One such place is along the Platte River in Nebraska where an estimated half million Sandhill Cranes meet during migration every spring as a part of a long-established crane community event. After this "spring fling" they continue north, on to their breeding grounds where each pair builds a low, broad mound (4-6" high and 30-40" across) out of marsh plants, grasses and weeds which will serve as their nest. They lay up to 3 eggs, but usually only one chick survives to fledge. After nesting and raising their families, Sandhill Cranes and their fully grown colts start their migration southward, some, perhaps to the same place our first set of chicks, now one year old, are maturing and preparing to head north the next spring, maybe to the same field where they grew up-- and the cycle begins again.	by John Crowley
Sources: The Audubon society Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John K. Terres All About Birds, website: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Wikipedia website Smithsonian.com

Utah County Birders Newsletter July 2018

Utah County Birders Newsletter
July 2018