First of all, hope all the mothers out there had a happy Mother's Day.

Here at Bryce we had a nice International Migratory Bird Day weekend with about 60 people at my presentation Saturday night and 6 bird watchers along with me on the bird walk this morning. That went pretty well with 17 species - 6 of those "life birds" for one of the participants. The highlight, I think, was the most glorious Western Tanager I have seen. The red on this guy's head was incredible - the one hanging around my trailer is positively dull in comparison. We also had great looks at a Plumbeous Vireo, some brilliantly colored and loudly singing male Yellow-rumped Warblers, and watched 3 Green-tailed Towhees doing some sort of display raising their wings (I've researched the behavior a little but haven't found any real specifics - apparently some sort of territorial thing going on between males). Another highlight was watching a Say's Phoebe carrying nesting material to refurbish the same nest that treated one of the walks last June to views of 3 freshly fledged youngsters.

The towhees, along with a Black-headed Grosbeak, are additions to the year list; added another later in the day when I saw a Broad-tailed Hummingbird (male) checking out taillights on cars in the Visitor Center parking area. I guess he just wanted to know what all that red was about; not many flowers around here yet. Also saw a first of the season female Western Tanager today, too.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow, May 10, is International Migratory Bird Day and to celebrate I dug deep into my archives (it's from a slide!) for this week's quiz bird. This species is one I feature in my presentation Wings on the Wind, that, not coincidentally, will be tomorrow's night's featured Ranger Program here at Bryce (we're also having a birding walk Sunday morning if you are in the area and care to come along).

Before I forget, last week's bird was an American Bittern.

Note: David (and anyone else who wants to play): extra credit if you can tell me what kind of tree it is in . . . I know you know, though you may not be able to identify it from the photo )

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the things I enjoy about living where I live is listening to the birds in the morning. Just for fun I took out my little notepad and jotted down the names of the birds I heard singing and/or calling today. It took them a little while to get going, most likely because we had some heavy rain in the evening (canceling last night's astronomy) which turned to snow during the night. This morning's "joyful noise" was provided by the following:

American Robin, Grace's Warbler, Northern Flicker, Cassin's Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Plumbeous Vireo, Chipping Sparrow, Western Bluebird, Western Tanager, and Brown Creeper.

As I write this the sun has set, it is nearly dark, and there is still a robin outside chatting away.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things have been a little hectic at work with some training going on that has actually cut into my time off. The good news is the birds just keep on coming. On Monday we had some geology training (including a little fossil hunting that yielded a couple of nice new specimens from the Cretaceous) and on that day I added a pair of new species for the year lists Black-chinned Hummingbird and Black-necked Stilt. The stilts, a bird I know well from Florida, were in a pond just outside the park. Considered "rare" Spring/Fall migrants on the park checklist, they were a nice, unexpected surprise. At a staff get-together on Tuesday night I saw a pair of House Finches to further pad the list. Then this morning I went for a short walk while waiting for my laundry and the new bird on that little stroll was one I heard singing 6 or 8 times last Spring before finally seeing one: Plumbeous Vireo.

Bird of the day was when I got home after the chores were finished: #105 for the Utah list (and #91 for the Bryce list) was my long awaited male Western Tanager! Actually, I knew he was around because I heard him singing for a good 1/2 hour before I'd left, I just couldn't pinpoint the exact tree. When I finally did see him he was at the bird bath and binoculars weren't even necessary.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And the answer is . . .

Chipping Sparrow.

(The question, of course, would be: What was Kevin's 100th Utah bird - and 84th for Bryce Canyon- in 2008?)

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)