Today I finished up my trips to Richfield to the dentist for a crown and, along the way, once again had some pretty good birds. It wasn't as productive as the last trip, but that is mainly because the ducks have pretty much all moved north; the only ducks I saw were Mallards. The day's tally of 43 species included 5 new birds for the year: Prairie Falcon (high in a snag eating something unidentifiable for breakfast), Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Cliff Swallow (hundreds near the dam at Otter Creek Reservoir), Sage Thrasher, and Rock Wren.
The wren was interesting as I was thinking while driving through Black Canyon, about 30 miles north of Bryce, that it should be pretty good habitat for either Rock or Canyon Wren. Within 2 minutes of that thought, I saw a small perched on a rock, stopped and it was nice enough to stay put long enough to figure out who he was.
Saw more Western Kingbirds than I have ever seen in a single day, too. Only a few south of the reservoir, but north of there were pockets with a lot of them, perched on fences or utility poles or lines. Also got to watch a pair of Common Ravens relentlessly mobbing a Golden Eagle, obviously unhappy the bigger bird was in the neighborhood.
Close to home I have a pair of Mountain Bluebirds who look to be nesting in a snag not far from my front door (have I mentioned that already?), and a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches in another snag nearby. They were busy gathering nesting material this morning and bringing to back to the cavity in a slit about 30 feet up the tree.
Full list below the fold . . .
The wren was interesting as I was thinking while driving through Black Canyon, about 30 miles north of Bryce, that it should be pretty good habitat for either Rock or Canyon Wren. Within 2 minutes of that thought, I saw a small perched on a rock, stopped and it was nice enough to stay put long enough to figure out who he was.
Saw more Western Kingbirds than I have ever seen in a single day, too. Only a few south of the reservoir, but north of there were pockets with a lot of them, perched on fences or utility poles or lines. Also got to watch a pair of Common Ravens relentlessly mobbing a Golden Eagle, obviously unhappy the bigger bird was in the neighborhood.
Close to home I have a pair of Mountain Bluebirds who look to be nesting in a snag not far from my front door (have I mentioned that already?), and a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches in another snag nearby. They were busy gathering nesting material this morning and bringing to back to the cavity in a slit about 30 feet up the tree.
Full list below the fold . . .
Pygmy Nuthatch, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Steller's Jay, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Mountain Bluebird, Mountain Chickadee, Chipping Sparrow, Western Bluebird, Brewer's Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Mallard, Black-billed Magpie, Western Meadowlark, Prairie Falcon, Common Raven, Red-tailed Hawk, Say's Phoebe, Horned Lark, Mourning Dove, American Coot, Sage Thrasher, European Starling, Barn Swallow, Rock Wren, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture, Western Grebe, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Kingbird, Cliff Swallow, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Golden Eagle, Killdeer, Northern Harrier, Pinyon Jay, Eurasian Collared-dove, House Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, Caspian Tern, American White Pelican, Dark-eyed Junco, Savannah Sparrow.
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