29 January 2018 - No snow, lots of frost

Our snow-less winter continues. But in my travels up north, there are places where the fog settles in and freezes, creating a crystalline fairy tale setting. It can be blindingly beautiful when the sun hits it, then it melts very quickly.  In this case, there hadn't been any sun for quite some time. Here are some photos from my last foggy adventure. It often looks like snow covered branches, but it is ice crystals covering everything the fog touches.  The world was gray and white. 

Look closely at the magpie below and you can see he has frost on his whiskers at the base of the bill. 

Everything in this pasture is coated with a layer of hoar frost, even the horses. 

Left the foggy Cache Valley behind and headed west to the playas of West Weber. Cold, but at least the sun was out. This is basically a huge expanse of, well, pretty much nothing, where I was attempting the birding equivalent of Where's Waldo.

The sparse vegetation is about 4 inches high and mostly made up of pickleweed. This area attracts hundreds of horned larks in the winter who feed on the seeds. The Where's Waldo part is that sometimes amongst the many larks you can find a Lapland Longspur or even better, a McCown's Longspur. First, you slog at least a mile or more out unto the gooey, sticky playa while carrying a scope over your shoulder.  

Any sign of movement in the weeds, and you set up your scope and scan the birds for one that is different. Yep! Some kinds of fun are a bit on the odd side. 

I suppose you are wondering what this has to do with frost. Well, if there is frost or a bit of snow, the birds are a lot easier to spot. They might sit a little higher in the pickleweed and the contrast is better. 

Several hours later after looking at hundreds of birds, we found a couple that were different. 

Here's our Waldo's for the day:
The Lapland Longspur

And the even rarer McCown's Longpur. 

Perseverance pays off! 

One last thing about the little bit of snow on the playa:  bird angels!  Not sure if this pattern is from a take off or a landing, but the feather imprints are wonderful. 

19 January 2018 -- Brrr-ding

What a bizarre winter we have had so far. November was the hottest on record. Little to no snow in December. I have used my snow blower once. The snow pack in the hills is the lowest it has been since 1944.  The reservoirs are so low it is scary. So far in January we've had many days with highs in the low fifties. Today we hit 61, although it is accompanied by strong winds as a front rolls in with a chance of snow starting  tonight, but who knows if it will really hit? 

Normally, looking for birds in January is a cold proposition with many layers of clothes involved. While some days have been chilly because of the wind, if you can stand in the sun it's been pretty darned pleasant. 

For me, January means waterfowl. Ducks, geese and swans. It also means gulls. But since it has been unseasonably warm, the lakes are not freezing so the birds are not concentrated in small areas of open water.  It is odd not finding birds where you would expect...takes more looking. 

I have come to appreciate ducks. The variety of plumage, especially now with all the fresh breeding plumage makes them a pleasure to see. 

Wood Duck

Redhead

Pair of Barrow's Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye

Canvasback

Northern Pintail

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

And there are so many more. 

Geese. If you start scanning the huge numbers of Canada geese, often there are some surprises you can find hidden in the flocks. 

Snow Goose

Greater White-fronted Goose.  Considering he is only half the size of a Canada goose, it is interesting he is called a Greater. Above is an adult, below a juvenile. 

Cackling Goose. This is the little goose in front of the Canada. It looks like a miniature Canada.

Swans. So far this month I have seen Tundra, Trumpeter and Mute Swans.  Here are some Tundras:

Mute swans

Trumpeter in back, mute in front. A good look at the differences in the head and beak shapes.

All in all, you can see there is a lot to look out, even in January, when many people would not expect to see birds. 

18 December 2017 - Birding: The Vagrants

One of the hardest things about birding is finding the vagrants--the birds that shouldn't be here but show up and cause birders all over the state to drive long distances to see something rare. This year we had quite a few and I was able to see most of them. What I enjoyed about this was they were spread out over the year, almost hitting one a month. 

The first unusual bird was seen on January 1 during the Christmas Bird Count--a pair of Eastern Bluebirds. The last time Eastern Bluebirds were seen in Utah was 21 years ago in the far southwestern corner of Utah. This pair was just outside of Salt Lake City. Here's the male.

 

February brought us a Great Gray Owl. They normally do not show up south of Idaho, but Idaho had a huge snow year and birds were going south for food. 

In April a Eurasian Wigeon showed up in Provo. I don't have a photo of this pretty little duck. My suggestion? Look it up. It showed up in a flock of about 1000 American Wigeon. Oh boy. 

The big surprise in May was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher!  I have seen these in Oklahoma, but here? Wow! 

Two fabulous birds made themselves visible in June. First, an Indigo Bunting followed by a White Ibis. Crazy fun!

July's bird was a small flock of  Lark Buntings. Very striking coloration. These aren't horribly rare for Utah, just really hard to find. 

In August, an Arctic Tern stayed for almost a week. 

September found many of us in Farmington Bay to find a Ruff.

November made me think I was back in Michigan when a Bluejay showed up. What fun to see this old friend again. 

In December, a lovely Varied Thrush showed up and  hung around for two weeks then was gone. 

Makes me wonder what amazing vagrants will be showing up next year. And yes, I will most likely be chasing them. 

8 September 2017 - Baby everythings

This year has been filled with babies, they are so darned cute and very hard to ignore. On birding trips Viv and I were always wanting to pull over for the newborns. Our guru finally laid down the law and said "No stopping, oohing or ahhing over calves, kids or lambs." He agreed we could fawn over other (in his opinion) more interesting babies. Pretty funny. Not that it stopped us, mind you, we just tried to be fast or sneaky about the looking. Nevertheless, there were still many babies to be found. 

Pronghorn antelope

Kids playing King of the Hill

Lambs

Calves (good thing they don't come out with horns!)

While it is fun to see the babies, it is always a treat to watch them play.

These colts are part of the wild horse herd near Ouray.

Alpaca

This counts--baby butterfly? Stretching, but sort of. 

Black-necked stilts. Ever wondered where the expression "under her wing" came from? 

Great Horned Owl

This fledgling Great Horned Owl was walking on a roof not far from the nest. Look at the size of his feet!

Great Blue Herons

California Quail

Coot

 Avocets


Eared Grebes

Western Grebe

This baby is almost too big to be riding anymore. 

Clark's Grebe

Magpies. These newly-fledged babies are still begging for food.

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallows

Western Kingbird

Osprey. Adult on right. 

This was a selection of some of my favorites this year. I love seeing the little ones. And once you've found a nest, you can go back again and watch how quickly they grow.