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Saturday, April 1
We had arrived at Salt Lake the night before, rented a car, and drove north to Layton where we stopped at a crowded restaurant for dinner. Spoke with a few of the local people who were quite friendly (as were most of the people we would meet in Utah). We thought we had a little further to drive, but since Utah had renumbered the exits found that we were actually right next to the Holiday Inn Express where we were staying.
Glenn met us at the hotel at around 9 a.m. Although I had never met him before, he is a long-time friend going back to Prodigy days in the early ’90s. Glenn is quite a local birder, knowledgeable about the birding hotspots, so we left most of the trip planning to him.
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first choice was a trip to Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt
Lake. It is reached by driving along a 7.5 mile long causeway. We (meaning Joan)
found a pair of Chukar on the causeway. Glenn said that he never seen them on
the causeway before. Glenn mentioned the Chukars to some other birders who
also said that Chukars on the causeway were unusual. Then they asked if we
had seen the Horned Grebe in breeding plumage. Horned Grebe is unusual for
Utah. We located it, swimming with five Eared Grebes The Horned and Eared Grebes
in breeding plumage were outstanding. We are used to the Horned (and an
occasional Eared) in winter plumage. What a difference! |
Once on the island, we looked for a Burrowing Owl nest, but were unsuccessful. We went on to the Garr Ranch where we saw a nesting female Great Horned Owl. She surely looked very large on the nest. We later found the male high in a nearby tree. We drove to other parts of the island. Some of Glenn's friends (he seems to know all the birders in Utah) told us another location where we could find a Burrowing Owl. It took a while to actually locate it, but we eventually found it at is burrow. Then, later we spotted the nesting Barn Owl in a hay shed in its nest box. This was near the Bison corrals, and we then stopped there to watch them.
At the Visitors’ Center we found more Chukar and also saw two Lincoln’s Sparrows at the bird feeder. The Chukar were up on the feeder scrounging the seed placed there for other birds. Later we saw a very illusive Spotted Towhee. Other good birds for the day were California Gull, Common Goldeneye, Western Meadowlark, Long-billed Curlew in flight, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Northern Harrier, and Peregrine Falcon. Joan noticed that all the California Gulls were adults, not an immature among them.
After Glenn left us, Joan and I had dinner and since it was still light out, we went back to some ponds just before Antelope Island. We saw a few more ducks and added a Merlin to the list so with the American Kestrels and Peregrines we had seen earlier with Glenn, we had a three falcon as well as a three owl day. Total species for us for the day was 41 (no lifers for me.)
Joan and I cannot get over how beautiful it is here. Snow covered Wasatch Mountains on one side, snow covered Sierra Nevadas on the other and the Great Salt Lake in between. Stormy clouds for dramatic effect. Can't believe how many times we said what a beautiful place.
And Glenn is terrific!
Day 2: Bear River Migratory Bird
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Copyright © 2006 by Glenn Barlow and Joan & Richard Becker