21 September 2016 - Last Day of Summer

It is so hard to believe that today is the last day of summer and tomorrow is the fall equinox. I'm not sure where this summer went--it seemed to whiz by in a blur of birding and restoring equipment in my shop. And if I wasn't occupied with one of those pursuits, I was watering everything in sight because we have not had any rain since May.  It has also been one of the hottest if not the hottest summer on record. All this to say I am almost looking toward fall. Almost. It is hard to let go of summer, no matter what kind of summer it is. 

I spent my last official day of summer on top of Bountiful Peak, elevation 9,300 feet, watching the raptors migrate south.  When you are high up on a peak, the birds are a lot closer. Great fun! Saw Bald and Golden Eagles. Red-tailed hawks: adults, juveniles and dark-morphs. Cooper's hawks and 
Sharp-shinned hawks.  Good birding but the views of the valley were pretty awesome too. 

Bountiful Peak is 24 miles up Farmington Canyon. It's a very narrow dirt road about one car wide with very steep drop-offs. It consists of gravel washboard competing with ruts, holes and lots of big rocks. One of the most interesting things about the canyon is that all the rock is gneiss which is about 2.8 billion years old. 

Even with the rocky scary roads, it was a gorgeous drive.  This is looking down on Farmington, Farmington Bay and the Great Salt Lake in the far background.

Below is the Farmington BayWaterfowl Management Area where I often go birding. What looks like a mountain range on the right is Antelope Island, except that the water is so low you could walk out to the island now. 

Here's a look at the vistas and views on the drive up to the peak.

Lots of fall colors for the last day of summer, but it was a glorious day.