Over two days, along with Steve Howell, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Bouton, Jim Danzenbaker and Adrian Binns, led around 57 people on two trips to the Brighton/Silver Lake area and the Kennecott Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, an area closed to the public. We nabbed most of the usual suspects, and had some nice looks at harder to get birds. On Thursday 06/26, our group had not one, but two flyover Northern Goshawk at Brighton. Everyone got good looks at our "slaty-backed" Fox Sparrows as well Cordilleran and Dusky Flycatchers. On 06/28, we struck out on the goshawks, but a very nice consolation were 2 White-winged Crossbills, as well as great looks for everyone at Red-naped Sapsucker.

Both groups had successful 1 mile roundtrip hikes for Snowy Plover, where 3 were seen on each trip. The 06/28 group was treated to views of both Peregrine and Prairie Falcons, while both groups ticked off all the typical breeding shorebirds on the lake. We had a very uncooperative Virginia's Warbler on both outings, while we had very cooperative Black-headed Grosbeak and Lazuli Bunting for everyone on both trips.

The lowlight of the trips came on 06/28 when our bus driver ran over several Dusky Grouse chicks coming down one of the canyons. Luckily the mother and 3 chicks managed to get off the road in time to miss being hit. None-the-less it was a not so happy sighting. Overall it was a successful couple of days. I took 7 people out for Flammulated Owl. I believe it was a lifebird for 5 of the 7, and all had amazing looks at these little gems of the night. I believeI tallied 114 species all within Salt Lake County over the convention period, with a couple additions, of the owls just outside the county.

Steve Shunk, Steve Ingraham and I led a great group of birders to the Jordanelle SP area on Saturday June 28th. We had winnowing WILSON'S SNIPE and several singing BOBOLINKS along Potter Lane in the Heber Valley. I think all of the participants agreed that Heber Valley is a truly beautiful valley with a spectacular backdrop!

We had a singing YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT on the west side of the river at the Jordanelle Reclamation area. A pair of RING-NECKED DUCKS were visible from the paved road in one of the ponds. We also watched a SANDHILL CRANE with a colt forage about 30 feet off the road.

There's a development going in on the hill just above the Jordanelle Reclamation area. Although I'm sure much of this scrub habitat will disappear shortly, we had great looks at singing ROCK WREN, VIRGINIA'S WARBLER and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and I was able to get one participant on a small flock of BUSHTITS.

Next, we headed to Rock Cliffs State Park where several CASSIN'S FINCHES were coming to the feeders at the nature center. A lingering (presumably) alternate plumage COMMON LOON was foraging at the inlet.

I led 2 groups (consisting of about 25 total participants) into Millcreek Canyon who had their life or life look or best life look at a FLAMMULATED OWL last Thursday and Friday nights.

With the ABA Convention happening in Snowbird, Utah over the next week we are pleased to offer our guiding service. To see our rate information click here.

This evening (06/20) Steve and Cindy Sommerfeld, Larene Wyss, Bob Atwood, Buck Russell, Colby Neuman and I ascended Green Canyon in Cache county to try for the rare nightjar, a state first.

As luck would have have it the bird started singing around 9:30PM precisely where it was previously reported from. The bird moved all over the hillside to the northeast of the large open parking area constantly emitting the quivering notes. The bird sounded distinctly like the Mexican/Arizona subspecies with a somewhat lower voice and I would say slower start.

A huge thanks to Ryan O,Donnell who alerted me to this bird.

A word of caution. The bird did not respond to a tape played briefly after we listened for a while, so the fruitless repetition of Peterson or Stokes is not only probably a waste of time but could impact this birds continued presence at this locale.

If you visit Green Canyon I would suggest arriving shortly before 930, and just waiting till the bird begins to announce itself. At times it wasn't more than 50 feet away while at other instances it was well over 150 yards into the woods.

It seems to be getting into the high time for Flammy's singing. This past week has been incredibly good along the Wasatch front, with many birds hear without the use of tapes. On Wednesday and Thursday night I led field trips in conjunction with classes about owls and nightjars, into the mountains just east of Salt Lake, the goal to see or hear as many species as possible. I also went scouting earlier in the week to try and pin down some spots to pick up the more common species present. On Tuesday night I spent several hours andhad pretty good luck hearing numerous GREAT HORNED OWL, and around 10 FLAMMULATED OWLS at various stops. I was able to take some pictures which are posted here:


One stop produced a singing NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL that wouldn't come out of the top of a 90' spruce despite my best impersonation of competition. COMMON POORWILLS and COMMON NIGHTHAWKS were numerous and found rather frequently.

On Wednesday I took 20 individuals out to revisit some of the locations, and our success was similar. All members of the party were able to get decent looks at a Flammy, and most saw both Comon Nighthawk and Great Horned Owl. Only a couple poorwills were heard. A nice surprise was a distant singing LONG-EARED OWL at one stop. The Pygmy-Owl from the night before responded briefly before shutting down. On Thursday 23 of us had similar success with the nightjars and the Great Horned and Flammy's. At one stop while doing a pygmy-owl whistle, it sounded like a Pymgy responded with a loud single clear whistle, although I can't remember ever hearing one just emit a single note.

Among the other birds heard and seen, most of the groups also were able to see AMERICAN DIPPER, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, Yellow Warbler, Song Sparrow, Violet-green Swallow, American Robin, and Brewer's Blackbird. At a stop in Salt Lake County there was a female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD that myself and one other observer were able to see. I also saw or heard the following over the three nights:

Mourning Dove, Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Warbling Vireo, Steller's Jay, Black-billed Magpie and Common Raven, Barn, NRW and Cliff Swallow, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadee, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, MacGillivray's Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Virginia's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Spotted and Green-tailed Towhee, Brewer's, FOX, White-crowned and Chipping Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Bullock's Oriole, House and Cassin's Finch, and Pine Siskin

It was a great week to spend some time up in the mountains away from the city.

Today I took John Berner of Houston, TX on a loop of northern Utah, birding Mirror Lake Highway (which is NOW OPEN), Woodruff Narrows Reservoir in Wyoming, Deseret Ranch, Echo Reservoir, Millcreek Canyon and a private residence in Millcreek. Overall a rather nice day of birding, where 113 species were tallied and I believe John saw around 10 life birds. There were however some misses that left me shaking my head. NO crossbills, not a single one. Raptors were few and far between, no accipiters, no Ferruginous or Swainson's hawks. No California Quail despite checking several residential areas that are normally quail filled in Salt Lake. Not a single Olive-sided Flycatcher, and only 2 Dusky and a single Cordilleran were seen. Perhaps even more strange was only 1 Wood-Pewee and only 1 Tanager. No goldfinches either!

Despite those misses of usual suspects, we did get some good pickups, including 5 BLACK ROSY-FINCH and 3 PINE GROSBEAK near Bald Mountain. A single flyby AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER while we were searching for Rock Wren (oh did I mention we missed that one). We tallied 7 species of warbler and 8 species of sparrow, and saw 2 pairs of Wilson's Phalarope (one in WY, one in UT). And at Echo, a pair of Canyon Wren were seen frolicking in a small "cave". It was a great day to be out birding, instead of stuck at a computer!

Below is a list of highlights seen with a few notes:

BLUE-WINGED TEAL - a lone male
Canvasback
LESSER SCAUP - a lone male
Clark's Grebe
SNOWY EGRET - at Woodrfuff Narrows
SANDHILL CRANE - pair along the Bear River in Wyoming
American Avocet
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - one flyby on the upper Provo River
Willet
WILSON'S SNIPE - one that flew out of a meadow along Mirror Lake Highway
Wilson's Phalarope
FRANKLIN'S GULL - three at Woodruff Narrows
California Gull
CASPIAN TERN - one at Echo
BLACK TERN - several at Echo and Deseret Ranch
Forster's Tern
BAND-TAILED PIGEON - 4 in Millcreek
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird - SO MANY!!!
Red-naped Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER
Western Wood-Pewee
Dusky Flycatcher
Cordilleran Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Steller's Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Violet-green Swallow
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
CANYON WREN - two at Echo
Townsend's Solitaire
GRAY CATBIRD - two along Mirror Lake Highway
Sage Thrasher
Orange-crowned Warbler
VIRGINIA'S WARBLER - pain in the butt! Finally got one at the end of the day
MacGillivray's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
VESPER SPARROW - only one along Mirror Lake Highway
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Bullock's Oriole
BLACK ROSY-FINCH - 4 flyover at Bald Mountain, and a distant scope view on Bald Mountain
PINE GROSBEAK - one calling at Bald Mountain and 2 others along Mirror Lake Highway
CASSIN'S FINCH - only one...
Pine Siskin