Jul 29
Since Spring we've been watching a pair of
Cooper's Hawks build a nest and settle in the middle of the University of Utah campus. This week 4 chicks emerged from the nest and appear almost ready to fledge. We shot some video of them feeding this morning. The mother is in the back tearing off bits and giving them to the chicks.
(download)
Jul 4
A trip to Seattle allowed us to try our luck at adding a few new birds to our list. We ended up with 12 new birds. I couldn't get a picture of the
Pacific-slope Flycatcher, but I did get shots of a Least Flycatcher (kind of rare for the area), a Red Breasted Sap Sucker, a Winter Wren and an Anna's Hummingbird. We haven't had so many new birds since our trip to Belize a year ago, although we did see a Green Heron which previously we'd only seen in Belize. I had forgotten how fun it is to see something I'd never seen before.
Seattle's Discovery Park turned out to be a great place for birds and wildlife encounters from a raccoon drinking from a pond to a seal sunning it's face in the sound. A Great Blue Heron and a song sparrow posed long enough for me to actually get some nice pics. We also saw a
Bushtit and some
Chestnut-backed Chickadees (both new birds for us) at Discovery Park, but I couldn't get pics before they flew off into the impossibly tall trees of the forest. Washington forests are incredibly lush and beautiful, but so frustrating for a birder.
A morning hike to
Big Four Ice Caves in the Cascades turned out to be the highlight of the trip for me. You hike through old growth pacific northwest forest (where we saw the Pacific Slope Flycatcher and the Winter Wren) and emerge to a sight of multiple waterfalls plunging thousands of feet from the tops of the mountain peaks. Some fall into a snow fields and carve huge caverns through the ice. I've never seem so many waterfalls in one place. The meadow was full of flowers and birds of all kinds (sap suckers, wood peckers, white crowned sparrows, song sparrows, a mystery flycatcher, Yellow Warblers). I think it's now in my top 10 favorite places in the world.
Our trip ended with a hike up to
Rattlesnake Ridge and a view through Stevens Pass and out to the Snoqualmie Valley. We had hoped to see a Pileated Woodpecker and possibly heard one high up in one of those frustratingly massive Washington trees. It would not show itself. I guess we'll have to keep going back.
New birds:
Anna's Hummingbird
Harlequin Duck
Wood Duck
Glaucous-winged Gull
Least Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Red Breasted Sap Sucker
Bushtit
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Winter Wren
Vaux Swift
Spotted Sandpiper
Jun 20
Some days you only get one really good look a bird. At least today's was a Lazuli Bunting - one of my absolute favorite birds. This was shot up East Canyon on the Big Mountain part of the Great Western Trail.
Jun 18
Finally some good shots of a hummingbird! It took a lot of waiting in a meadow up the canyon. I watched this little guy chase bees and fly for nectar all over the meadow, but he kept coming back to the same perch. I just waited and snapped shots whenever he sat for a rest. How many colors can one bird have? Sometimes he was black, sometimes purple, sometimes red, sometimes green, sometimes blue.
Jun 6
The snow is finally gone from Little Cottonwood Canyon (at least below 7000 feet). The snow melt poured over the canyon walls in long season waterfalls filling the canyon creek and making it a raging white-water river. An excursion to the old Mormon temple granite quarry brought national park quality canyon views and great bird encounters. The Lazuli Bunting's blue heads glowed in the morning light. I was lucky to spot a little Black-chinned Hummingbird sitting on her tiny nest. We couldn't miss the bright yellows of Western Tanagers and Yellow Warblers. A House Wren even sat and singing while I snapped pics.
When May and June come around, I'm reminded why I love living in Utah with so many amazing natural places so close - some just 10 minutes from my house.
Birds and wildlife:
Mule deer
unidentified lizard
unidentified water snake
Turkey Vulture
Lazuli Bunting
Chipping Sparrow
House Finch
American Robin
European Starling
Black capped Chickadee
House Wren
Swainsons Thrush
Spotted Towhee
Black headed Grosbeek
Warbling Vireo
MacGillivray's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Western Tanager
Black chinned Hummingbird
Apr 17
A walk around the Jordan River (the one in Salt Lake City) yielded an unexpected friendly little yellow face. The first yellow warbler of Spring has arrived. The place was thick with Red-wing Blackbirds. I just love that flash of red when they are making territory displays. NEW BIRD - we saw our first Northern rough-winged swallow (too fast to photograph).
I also had a chance to get up close with an American Coot - they are smaller than they appear out on the Great Salt Lake. I'd say they're about half the size of a mallard. A Pied-billed Grebe was floating nearby as well.
Speaking of Mallards, we've had a nice couple who've taken up residence in the yard for the last week. We call them Fred and April - well, today they hopped in the bird bath and got busy bird style (sorry, no pictures). Maybe we'll get ducklings in the yard this year.
Apr 11
What was supposed to be a warm 70 degree day at Antelope Island turned out to be grey and overcast with big wind gusts. I was skeptical that we would see anything other than gulls. The owls at Garr ranch were out and actually took flight for us to see. As we headed for the parking lot, We spotted a pair of Say's Pheobes by the barn (see photo of bird on metal roof)- NEW BIRD! However, my favorite bird of the day was a little rock wren singing his heart of in blasting wind - so he gets the first 3 pics of this post.
The visitor center also yielded some great shots of a white crowned sparrow. Down the road we use an iPhone to call a horned lark closer (and possibly made him very pissed off at the large Subaru horned lark in his territory. I think he looks like he's going to lose it in his pic. western meadowlark at Whiterock Bay gave me the poster shot (we must have seen at least 100 WMLs).
The award for persistence and luck goes to Jessica for suggesting that we return to the island after lunch and try to find a reported sage thrasher by the visitor center. We climbed over rocks and scanned sagebrush. By now the wind had died and a peaceful afternoon was settling in. It was great to just sit back and listen to the meadowlark calls all around... and a call that didn't quite sound like a meadowlark. Scanning the ground way out, Jessica lucked into spotting a running bird. I spotted it too - then another. Behold - two sage thrashers running over the rocks - imposible to get a photo. A jack rabbit ventured into the area and I decided to get a picture. Aiming through the tiny view finder I THOUGHT I was shooting a rabbits ears sticking above a rock - when I checked the photo, no rabbit, but there WAS a safe thrasher. It's not a great shot and we were quite far away, but there it is - the luck bird of the day.
Leaving the island I spotted my first avocet of the year - a sure sign that the great flocks will be coming in over the next few days. Spring migration is here!
Mar 28
A warm Spring day brought out the Western Meadowlarks on Antelope Island. We also saw a few Chukars and Loggerhead Shrikes. The cool moment for today happened at Whiterock Bay when I was taking a shot of two bison when suddenly and antelope jumped from the brush right into the frame.
Other birds sighted included:
Northern Harrier
Great Blue Heron
Eared Grebe
