Salt Lake City 7/20-7/21--17 Year Birds

California Quail, Gilgal Gardens

Shari & I arrived a couple of days early to Salt Lake City so that we would have some time to go to the Utah Museum of Natural History and do some exploring. A friend of mine and I used to travel around to random cities on the east coast for long weekends on the theory that any city is interesting for 3 days; Salt Lake City disproves that theory because by Sunday, afternoon, we were out of things to do.

California Quail chick

Before breakfast on Saturday I wandered around the parking lot of our hotel which was plunked down, along with many other hotels and the FBI headquarters for SLC, right next to I-80. I got a couple of easy year birds there with California Gull and Great-tailed Grackle. We started our touring at Gilgal Gardens (see next entry), a sculpture garden created by a masonry contractor with many references to the bible and his Mormon faith. We like visionary art so when Shari found the reference to it online we decided to make it our first stop. I didn't expect to find birds there but standing atop one of the first sculptures we looked at was a California Quail. Going around to the rear of the sculpture, under some plantings we found chicks and a female quail. And the soft "coo coo ca" we heard turned out to be a Eurasian Collared Dove sitting on a pole in the next yard.  There were a few other birds but the only one we wouldn't find in our backyard was a Black-capped Chickadee.

Lazuli Bunting, Red Butte Arboretum

Our next stop was the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, where both the Red Butte Arboretum and the natural history museum are located. I don't find botanical gardens all that interesting but this one at least had one plant that had the best name I ever read: Dragonfly Angel Kiss Piqsqueak. I was so stunned by the name that I didn't even look at the plant. While we wandered the paths (which go off into "wild areas" if you're not careful) we saw 3 Black-chinned Hummingbirds, a Lesser Goldfinch, a Black-headed Grosbeak (missed that one in northern NJ this year) and at least five singing Lazuli Buntings which, in the blazing light showed why they were named after the most precious of the blue pigments.

On Sunday (after I snagged a post-breakfast Western Kingbird on the fence along the edge of the parking lot) we spent the morning at Liberty Park which has the Tracy Aviary within it. I really don't find aviaries interesting--depressing is more the word, but some of the birds there are at least breeders. Plus, within the aviary itself there were two over-summering Common Goldeneyes which were worth a look. In the park itself only Brewer's Blackbird was new.

We got back to the hotel and killed a little time before the official start of the tour with the meeting in the lobby with Scott, Linda and the other 10 participants. Shari & I knew half the group already. After a quick orientation (we're all old hands at this field trip stuff) we piled into the vans to go food shopping for our lunches for the following two days. Scott also made our first stop of the trip at the redolent Lee Kay Ponds. Because no birding vacation is complete without a trip to the local sewage treatment facility. From past experience we were all smart enough to do our birding from within the vehicles. Probably the two most interesting species we saw in the 37 minutes we spent there were the Clark's Grebe and a trio of Neotropic Cormorants. And so, the first list of the trip:

24 species

Canada Goose  75

Mallard  100

Western Grebe  1

Clark's Grebe  1

Eurasian Collared-Dove  1

American Coot  1

Black-necked Stilt  6

American Avocet  4

Killdeer  3

Wilson's Phalarope  1

Franklin's Gull  1

Ring-billed Gull  1

California Gull  10

Forster's Tern  2

Neotropic Cormorant  3

Double-crested Cormorant  20

American White Pelican  25

Great Blue Heron  5

Snowy Egret  1

White-faced Ibis  1

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2

European Starling  10

Yellow-headed Blackbird  1

Red-winged Blackbird  5

Gilgal Garden

The Sphinx with the face of Joseph Smith

Gilgal Gardens was created by a masonry contractor Thomas Battersby Child in his backyard, about a mile from downtown Salt Lake City. Gilgal is a biblical reference meaning "circle of stones." Unlike most other visionary artists, Child was a man of means and thus was able to hire trucks and equipment to haul huge boulders to his property and to hire a sculptor to carry out his ideas on the stones that he arranged in his yard. The stones were carved using an oxyacetylene torch instead of a chisel, a technique that Child invented and that his son-in-law, who was an expert welder, taught to the sculptor they hired for the figurative aspects of the sculptures, Maurice Brooks He spent many hours scouring the hills and canyons for interesting looking rocks that spoke to him. The project went on from 1947 until his death in 1963. The property passed to other owners, who tried to maintain it despite vandalism. After it was threatened with destruction for a building project, a non-profit group, the Friends of Gilgal Garden, was formed and they, along with a gardening association, maintain the 1/2 acre site, nestled behind residential properties. It is, by far, the most interesting art work you will find in Salt Lake City. 

Monument to the Trade

Birdhouse

Captain of the Lord's Host

Last Chapter of Ecclesiastes

The grasshopper, for example, was carved from a stone that Child found at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon using the oxyacetylene torch. It was displayed in New York by the Linde Air Products Corp, which made the torches. 

California Quail climbing down from a sculpture

Wasatch Mountains 7/22--FLAMMULATED OWL + 14 Year Birds

FLAMMULATED OWL, Wasatch Mountains

Our first full day of birding brought us to the Wasatch Mountains just east of Salt Lake City--twice. On our previous trip in 2015, this is where we started too. There we birded a number of spots in Big Cottonwood Canyon, but most of the year birds were at our first stop at Silver Lake. It is about a mile and half hike around the lake, which is so picturesque that a film crew was shooting a commercial there of one guy casting a line from a row boat. Hard to say what the commercial was for--we guessed either beer or pharmaceuticals.

Lincoln's Sparrow

The first bird we saw was also the most prevalent--Lincoln's Sparrow. They were everywhere along the trail, singing. In a wet spot we hit a feeding flock of birds and it was there that we had the most action, with Red-naped Sapsucker and Mountain Chickadee being the highlights, along with the Audubon's subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler, which used to be considered a full species and which we all hope goes back to being so.

Cassin's Finch

At a feeder we found a small group of Cassin's Finches, which look intermediate between a House and a Purple Finch.

Walking along the roadside we were surprised to find a couple of MacGillivray's Warblers, a bird whose name I can spell without looking it up, but cannot pronounce. We also had a Swainson's Thrush which I inexplicably missed this spring in NJ

The happiest and quickest find was at another spot, the Spruces Campground, where, in a stream just outside the entrance, we found an American Dipper. The dipper is not much of a bird to look at, being all slate gray. But it can walk underwater! I also prefer its less patriotic name--Water Ouzel even if I don't know what an ouzel is.
Our list for Silver Lake:

American Dipper

25 species

Mallard  8

Photo: Tom Smith

Broad-tailed Hummingbird  2

Spotted Sandpiper  2

Red-naped Sapsucker  1

Hairy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  2

Western Wood-Pewee  1

Dusky Flycatcher  2

Steller's Jay  1

Common Raven  5

Violet-green Swallow  5

Cliff Swallow  10

Mountain Chickadee  2

Red-breasted Nuthatch  2

Swainson's Thrush  1

American Robin  2

Cassin's Finch  4    feeder

Pine Siskin  7

Chipping Sparrow  1

Dark-eyed Junco  1

White-crowned Sparrow  5

Lincoln's Sparrow  15    ubiquitous

MacGillivray's Warbler  3

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)  1

Western Tanager  1

It was pretty hot up in the mountains, but scorching down in Salt Lake City--it reached 103 degrees there, the hottest day of the year. Naturally, after we finished birding the mountains and with some time to kill before dinner, we went down to the city to bird in the heat, albeit mostly from the air conditioned comfort of our vehicles. This time, instead of a water treatment facility, we birded what eBird called the I80--Kennecott Reclamation Ponds. Kennecott is a copper company. What they're reclaiming from that water I don't want to know but it doesn't seem to bother the birds.

Scenery

Scenery

We then moved on to what may be the most unattractive beach on the Great Salt Lake. Here we got out of our vans to view the scenery and to watch the Franklin's Gulls and American Avocets run through the clouds of brine flies with their mouths agape sucking in the insects.

After dinner we headed back to the mountains where we met up with Tim Avery of Mountain West Birding. He knows the spots for what was our first target bird FLAMMULATED OWL. We hoped to get lucky and find one before dark, so Tim stopped in a few places, got out of the van, and tapped on trees where he had seen owls roosting previously, but they had all left. So we stopped at the end of a dirt road and walked up another dirt road to where he thought we'd find them. He explained that he never goes to the same spot twice in a season so as not to stress the birds, but since he has about 40 places in the area in which he knows there are owls, that isn't a problem. He gave us some statistics while we were waiting for it to get dark and if I recall correctly, he said there were probably 40,000 Flams in Utah just judging from the number of acres of aspen in the mountains and the area each owl needs for its territory, so they're not exactly rare, but extrapolation became a standing joke for the rest of the trip.

We waited in one spot and heard nothing, then moved a couple of hundred feet and waited again until one flew in briefly giving a call and letting some in the group see a brief silhouette. We then moved down the road again and this time the one shown above came in and stood still for a good five minutes while we alternately gaped and shot photos. Ethics note: Flammulated Owls, according to Tim, are not disturbed by brief encounters with humans nor do they mind illumination--obviously since this one continued to stare at us after the light was shone on it. However, Tim didn't let the show go on too long and when the light went out we cautiously walked downhill in the moonless night.

The ride down the mountain was long and we didn't get back to our hotel until about 11:30. It was a long but fruitful day.

Salt Lake City to Twin Falls 7/23--Golden Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Burrowing Owl, Loggerhead Shrike, Black-billed Magpie, Sage Thrasher, CASSIA CROSSBILL

CASSIA CROSSBILL, Diamondfield Jack Campground

It is just under 300 miles between Salt Lake City and Twin Falls where we headed next. On the map it looks like you can take the interstates there all the way instead of getting off I-84 south of the Idaho border and taking state roads, but then we wouldn't have added 6 of our year birds to the list. 

Burrowing Owl

Happily, these roads are essential empty of traffic, because it seemed like every 10 or 15 miles, Scott would see a roadside bird and pull over. The first one was on UT-30 in Howell, where a Burrowing Owl was perched atop a fence post. 

After being welcomed to Idaho by a shot-gun riddled sign, we added more roadside birds. One stop yielded a Golden Eagle, a Swainson's Hawk (state bird!), and a Loggerhead Shrike. Down the road a piece we stopped again for a Ferruginous Hawk (I have seen two Ferruginous Hawks and both have been stop-the-car birds).

Continuing along we stopped again for a Sage Thrasher (surprisingly, the only one we had for the trip). All these Idaho birds were located in the town of Malta though there was nothing but fields all around us. When we finally entered Malta proper, we found a Black-billed Magpie, a bird that we somehow missed in Salt Lake City where they are almost as common as pigeons. 

After lunch in the Malta town park and a stop at a convenience store (where Shari's Brooklyn accent was a source of wonder to the woman behind the counter), we did our first real birding in Idaho, in the Thompson Flat Campground in the Sawtooth National Forest. We didn't add any year birds there (though there were trip birds) until we just about to get back into the vans and travel the rest of the way to Twin Falls. Scott heard birds overhead, quickly quieted the group (not an easy task) and then we heard the "chip chip" of crossbills and saw 5 fly over our heads. Very brief looks, very good hears. They made a return flight a few minutes later. And after some noodling around with crossbill calls on our phones, we were confident that we had just heard and seen CASSIA CROSSBILLS, a "new" species that has only recently been separated from the other crossbill subspecies to stand on it's own. 

We had hoped to see them the next day at the spot where they usually recorded but this was a good preview. The picture above is from the following day. The Red Crossbills are a confusing complex, with all the subspecies separated by voice. Fortunately, the Cassia Crossbill has a distinct vocalization. It is involved in an interesting evolutionary battle with the lodgepole pine, with its beak getting stronger as the pine cones get harder. It is also the beneficiary of the absence of Red Squirrels in the area which compete with crossbills for the pine cone seeds and usually win, which is why most crossbills travel great swaths looking for food, while the Cassia Crossbill is sedentary. 

Our little list for Thompson Flat Campground.

14 species

Northern Flicker  1

Violet-green Swallow  1

Mountain Chickadee  1

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

House Wren  1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1

American Robin  2

Cassin's Finch  2

CASSIA CROSSBILL  5

Pine Siskin  1

Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored)  2

Dark-eyed Junco  1

White-crowned Sparrow  1    Heard 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)  3

Rock Creek Road | Diamondfield Jack Campground | Shoshone Falls 7/24--White-throated Swift, Hammond's Flycatcher, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren

Our goal today was to get good looks at the Cassia Crossbills and we accomplished that, though they were so far up in the pines that photography was challenging. The crossbills behave like parrots in Australia; they are very quiet and still when they've found a food source--it is hard to find either of them when they are tucked into the branches of a tree, eating fruit or prying open pine cones.

Cassia Crossbill
Photo: Shari Zirlin

I listed 9 crossbills. There might have been more, but they are hard to keep track of and I went with the 6 I counted in one tree plus 3 flyovers.

On the way up to the forest we stopped at a cliff side on Rock Creek Road and heard both Rock Wren and Canyon Wren. Later in the evening we were able to see Canyon Wren in Twin Falls.

Scott had heard a Hammond's Flycatcher while we were having lunch, but it isn't much of a call and I hear better when I'm alone. But then the bird got louder and just after I heard it, Scott found it in a tree above the picnic tables. I'm always happier when I see rather than hear a bird.

Twin Falls

Where the swifts
 were flying

It wasn't until the evening that we got our final year bird of the day. After eating a fine dinner on a patio overlooking the Snake River and its gorge, we drove up to Shoshone Falls Park, another magnificent view, we were able to see a flock of White-throated Swifts flying above a butte across the river. Not the best of looks, but obviously swifts with their jittery flight, their wings giving the optical illusion that they are flapping out of sequence, one up while the other's down. Plus, they look like flying cigars, even at a distance

Twin Falls | American Falls 7/25--Marbled Godwit, Barn Owl, Western Meadowlark, Bullock's Oriole

Common Nighthawk
Photo: Shari Zirlin

We spent the first part of the morning driving around the fields outside of Twin Falls (doesn't take long to get there) where we found a few birds, like the Common Nighthawk above which was impervious to all the clicking cameras, plus our first Western Meadowlark and flyby Bullock's Oriole. Then it was off to American Falls (lot of falls in Idaho) where Scott was hoping the reservoir levels were low and we'd be able to do some shorebirding. It was not to be as the reservoir seemed to have ample water and little shore line. However, we did at least see a large flock of Marbled Godwits fly by. We also had Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe and plenty of pelicans (white) to entertain us.  

Since it didn't look like there was shoreline on any other part of the reservoir, Scott called an audible and we headed out for another area. But the best bird of the day was found in transit. As he pulled off the highway and was coming down the exit ramp Scott saw something beneath the overpass and called out "Whoa, that looks like a Barn Owl!" He got on the walkie-talkie and told Linda to park in the grassy area (just try pulling this maneuver off in NJ) and we all got out of the vans. As we walked toward the concrete road support an owl suddenly flew out from between two columns and went about 100 yards into a nearby tree. Looking at the wall of the bridge we could see lots of whitewash. We managed to find the owl in the tree and got it in a scope when another one appeared and flew in the opposite direction. Evidence of nesting I'd say. That bird circled around and looked like it wanted to get back under the bridge, so, with one of our group having digiscoped a few photos, we left since these birds, unlike the Flams, do seem to be stressed by humans. 

Finding these owls made us happy on two counts. First, anytime you see a Barn Owl it is an event. Secondly, it meant that we could stop slowing up at every pile of hay bales to look for owls nestled in the crevices between the bales. There are a lot of hay bales in Utah and Idaho.

Mud Lake | Market Lake 7/26--GRAY PARTRIDGE, Eared Grebe, Long-billed Dowitcher, Vesper Sparrow

Shari attempts to use Scott's scope at Mud Lake

We changed our base of operations to Pocatello on the 25th and on the 26th we went north (I think) to bird a few WMAs. The first place was Mud Lake WMA which at first looked like there was no lake at all. It was here that we got our 3rd lifer of the trip when a GRAY PARTRIDGE flushed from the side of the road. Of course, the days we went slowly up and down country roads looking for one we didn't find it. The law of birding that states you won't see a bird until you give up applies here. Most of the group got to see the bird for a flash, but wanting a better look for all, we stopped and let Scott wander through the back of the field, hoping the bird would pop its head up. Instead, the whole bird popped up, flew 20 feet and dove down into the scrub, never to be seen again, but all the group got a good a look at the whole bird.

Mud Lake itself, when we finally came around to it, had lots of waterfowl on it, but the only new bird was a couple of Eared Grebes. The last year bird there was a couple of Vesper Sparrows on a fence on our way out.

41 species

Canada Goose  85

Redhead  7

Bufflehead  1

Ruddy Duck  7

GRAY PARTRIDGE  1

Eared Grebe  2

Western Grebe  500

Clark's Grebe  3

Mourning Dove  10

Common Nighthawk  10

American Coot  50

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Common Loon  1

Double-crested Cormorant  11

American White Pelican  2

Snowy Egret  1

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1

White-faced Ibis  14

Northern Harrier  1

Swainson's Hawk  20

Western Wood-Pewee  1

Willow Flycatcher  1    Heard

Western Kingbird  2

Eastern Kingbird  8

Black-billed Magpie  6

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  10

Tree Swallow  25

Bank Swallow  50

Cliff Swallow  10

Mountain Chickadee  1    Heard

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

House Wren  1

American Robin  7

American Goldfinch  1    Heard

Vesper Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  2    Heard

Western Meadowlark  1

Bullock's Oriole  1

Yellow Warbler  2

Black-headed Grosbeak  1

Lazuli Bunting  1

We drove to Camas NWR which has impoundments but the place was pretty dry and aside from finding a couple of Bald Eagles (which are "infrequent" in the area) and a couple of Sandhill Cranes, there wasn't anything unusual there.

Our last stop of the day, Market Lake WMA, I wish we could have spent more time at because birds just seem to be popping up wherever you looked, but there is always the tyranny of the clock. The year bird there was Long-billed Dowitcher and what a relief not to have to worry about whether they were Short-billed Dowitchers (which don't occur) or whether they looked like they swallowed a grapefruit, or a basketball, or a bowling ball, or anything else subjective. Of course, there had to be a problem with them. We at first saw 2 dowitchers, no big deal, then came across a flock of 15, which made 17 for the day and which, apparently, is an unusually large number of LBDO for the area. I took a doc shot of the 15, which Scott and I both carefully counted and do I really care if my LBDO record is accepted in Jefferson County, ID?

15 Long-billed Dowitchers

19 species

Canada Goose  40

Pied-billed Grebe  2

American Avocet  1

Killdeer  2

Semipalmated Sandpiper  1

Western Sandpiper  10

Long-billed Dowitcher  17    1x1 count

Wilson's Snipe  2

Wilson's Phalarope  10

Spotted Sandpiper  2

Lesser Yellowlegs  3

Caspian Tern  2

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1

White-faced Ibis  2

Northern Harrier  1

Eastern Kingbird  1

Barn Swallow  2

Savannah Sparrow  8

Common Yellowthroat  1

Kinney Creek Trail | Mink Creek Road | Curlew National Grasslands 7/27--10 Year Birds

Cordilleran Flycatcher on nest, Kinney Creek Trail

For our last day of birding in Idaho we went south (I think) to the Caribou National Forest, where we spent most of our time walking up the Kinney Creek Trail, a rather steep, rocky trail with little stream trickling down it here and there. At first I thought the birding was slow, but new birds began to appear with alacrity and after the half mile or so before we turned around (cattle up ahead didn't discourage us, but didn't encourage us either) we had 20 species, a lot of them new. The highlight, for me was seeing a Cordilleran Flycatcher (a bird whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce) on its nest. We also came across a number of what a friend mine calls "tweety" birds, like Juniper Titmouse, Bushtit, and Black-throated Gray Warbler, none of which were willing to sit still for portraits.

20 species

Mourning Dove  2

Black-chinned Hummingbird  1

Red-naped Sapsucker  1

Gray Flycatcher  2

Cordilleran Flycatcher  1

Plumbeous Vireo  2

Common Raven  3

Black-capped Chickadee  2

Juniper Titmouse  1

Bushtit  5

House Wren  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

American Goldfinch  1

Chipping Sparrow  2

Lark Sparrow  1

Spotted Towhee  10

Yellow-breasted Chat  1

Yellow Warbler  3

Black-throated Gray Warbler  1

Lazuli Bunting  3

We moved to a higher elevation to Scout Mountain Campground, where some of the RV owners keep hummingbird feeders out. I was hoping for a Calliope Hummingbird, which would have been a lifer, but the best we could do was Broad-tailed Hummingbird.


It was time to head back to Salt Lake City and as we did coming up, we made quick stops whenever we saw new or interesting birds on the side of the road. On Mink Creek Road we came upon a small flock of Mountain Bluebirds as well another Vesper Sparrow. On Buist Road, after crossing into Oneida County (Only Scott and I cared what county we were in) Scott heard Grasshopper Sparrows and we found them teed up on sticks and bushes in the fields. This was flagged as rare, but probably only because there are so few birders in Idaho. Our group might have doubled the population of birders in the state while we were there.  Finally, in the Curlew National Grasslands, which we passed through rather quickly, we stopped long enough to add Brewer's Sparrow to our lists. It is an unprepossessing bird. As Scott pointed out, along with Brewer's Blackbird, Brewer was not fortunate in the birds named for him.

Once we were on the interstate our birding ceased and our dozing began.

Antelope Island | I-15 | Bear River MBR 7/28--Virginia Rail, Sora, Snowy Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Red-necked Phalarope, Cattle Egret, Say's Phoebe

Long-billed Curlew, Bear River MBR

Our last day of birding was back in Utah. In the morning we went over the causeway through the Great Salt Lake to Antelope Island to look for Chukar, which is countable in Utah, unlike those in NJ which I see in Colliers Mills that have been released for hunters. The Chukars in Utah, although introduced, are a self-sustaining population and thus considered "wild." This was my 2nd trip to Antelope Island. The score stands Chukars 2, Zirlin 0. 

Red-necked Phalarope and Wilson's Phalaropes

There were other birds to see there like Say's Phoebe and a beautiful Lark Sparrow, but after about an hour we gave up and drove back to the causeway to do see what was in the water. What was in the water was thousands upon thousands of American Avocets (I listed 10,000 and didn't get a flag on eBird; someone else that day listed 15,000 and didn't get flagged), thousands of Eared Grebes, thousands of Franklin's Gulls, thousands of Wilson Phalaropes, and hundreds of Red-necked Phalaropes. Actually, there may have been thousands of Red-necked Phalaropes mixed in with the distant Wilson's Phalaropes but really, what difference does it make unless you're doing a survey? After a while you have to stop counting and just enjoy the scene

28 species

Canada Goose  100

Green-winged Teal  1

Common Goldeneye  3    Hens, continuing 

Eared Grebe  5000

Black-necked Stilt  15

American Avocet  10000

Long-billed Curlew  2

Wilson's Phalarope  5000

Red-necked Phalarope  200

Willet  4

Franklin's Gull  5000

California Gull  500

Great Blue Heron  1

White-faced Ibis  1

Turkey Vulture  4

Great Horned Owl  1

Say's Phoebe  2

Common Raven  1

Horned Lark  1

Bank Swallow  100

Barn Swallow  200

Cliff Swallow  1

Rock Wren  3

Lark Sparrow  21

Vesper Sparrow  1

Yellow-headed Blackbird  4

Western Meadowlark  5

Brown-headed Cowbird  1

Virginia Rail

After lunch we headed north (I'm sure) to Bear River MBR (Migratory Bird Refuge). On the way, on 1-15, we came upon a flock of Cattle Egret congregating around, what else, cattle. Since I missed them so far this year in Jersey, I was glad to see them, even at 80 MPH.

It was Scott's intention to do this earlier in the trip, but advice from Tim Avery about the water levels (pretty much dry) forced a change in plans. The only birds of significance up there, according to Tim, were Soras and Virginia's Rails. But we notice that a lot of those rails were being reported and so it seemed worth the drive. Bear River is their version of Brig--an auto loop around impoundments. When we there 4 years ago and the pools were filled, there were great flocks of grebes, herons, avocets, and so forth. This time, with the main pool looking more like a meadow, we found birds only in the smaller, outer pools. But it was an experience I never had before. I'm happy if I see a Sora during the year, I'm happy if I see a Virginia Rail during the year. When we came upon a pool with 8 Soras and 10 Virginia Rails it was a thrilling sight. When we drove a little further and came upon a flock of Virginia Rails (I counted 35), I was flabbergasted. It was by far more Virginia Rails than I've seen in toto all my years of birding. 

Snowy Plover

The last new bird of the year was found by Jodi of our group who thought she saw some sort of plover running on the mud flats. Scott stopped the van, looked for a moment, and was surprised to say that it was a Snowy Plover, another bird that was a joke to us, since you usually have to scan a long time the salt encrusted mud of the lake, where they blend in, to find one, and here was one just bopping along on the side of the road. 

On the way out we found more Long-billed Curlews and a hen Ring-necked Pheasant. For a place that didn't sound promising we did very well indeed. 

23 species 

Canada Goose  20

Mallard  1

Redhead  1

Ruddy Duck  1

Ring-necked Pheasant  1

Western Grebe  1

Clark's Grebe  1

Virginia Rail  45    Careful count

Sora  8

American Coot  55

Black-necked Stilt  65

American Avocet  85

Snowy Plover  1

Killdeer  1

Long-billed Curlew  7

Wilson's Phalarope  1

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Forster's Tern  1

American White Pelican  18

White-faced Ibis  150

Barn Swallow  5

Yellow-headed Blackbird  6

Red-winged Blackbird  1

And thus the birding was over. While Shari & I only added 3 lifers to our list, they were great ones to get. Every day it was fun to bird with the group, which got along famously. I doubt there was a cross wood in the week we were all together. Maybe in 4 years I'll go back to get those Chukars. 

Bison, Antelope Island

Brig 7/13--Least Bittern, White-faced Ibis

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Here's another Law of Birding (I haven't decided which number on the list it is): If you want to see good birds, go birding with good birders.

I added two year birds to the list today that, had I been by myself, I probably would have overlooked. But since I was on a NJ Audubon field trip at Brig, a fast, cackling call I would have thought was a Clapper Rail instead turned out to be my first Least Bittern of the year. Scott identified it. I've heard Least Bitterns before, but always a softer, cooing kind of call, but Scott, with way more experience hearing them than me, knew it wasn't a rail but a bittern. It did sound a little odd for a clapper, but I wouldn't have guessed bittern.

Later, at the dogleg, Dave, another excellent birder was looking one way when all the rest of the group was looking the other and he found, buried in the vegetation, an immature White Ibis. Not a year bird for me, but it always perks up the day to find one. Then Bill, looking right, spotted another one, so we had two examples of this rarity, though they seem to be showing up in increased numbers lately.

White-faced Ibis

Finally, on our second trip around, just before we were about to enter the upland portion of the drive, Jason spotted a White-faced Ibis, giving us the ibis trifecta. We'd been looking for one all day and he pulled one out of the hat at the last minute.  I would never have recognized this molting individual as anything but the standard issue Glossy Ibis, but those who know what to look for--and have the patience to examine each bird--will usually find the outlier. It was a skittish bird and while I got on it pretty quickly--it is was right in front of us in the channel--given the light and brevity of the sighting it is really an "if you say so" bird for my list. But since I went all of last year without ever tracking one down, I'll take it. The two pictures I took of it prove nothing.

A few other interesting birds we saw today were certainly out of season--a lone Ruddy Duck that has been hanging around the refuge, an early Northern Harrier which the blackbirds were not happy to see, and the two Snow Geese that never left with the other thousands of their brethren. Amusingly, one Snow Goose is not considered rare at Brig in the summer. However, two is considered a "high count" and gets flagged. I have a standard explanation for these situations in my eBird comments: Exact Count. Scott uses "1x1 count." Two fewer keystrokes yet equally huffy.

So with all these good birders (throw Mike, Linda, Carole & Bob into the mix), it isn't surprising that I came away with a list of 75 species for the day. And the greenhead flies weren't even all that bad!

Snow Goose  2    Exact count

Canada Goose  100

Mute Swan  35

Wood Duck  1

Blue-winged Teal  2

Mallard  5    ducklings at dogleg

American Black Duck  4

Ruddy Duck  1    Continuing small duck with stiff tail.

Mourning Dove  2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Clapper Rail  8    Heard young ones in the morning, saw chicks in the afternoon

American Oystercatcher  3

Whimbrel  1

Least Sandpiper  3

Semipalmated Sandpiper  25

Western Sandpiper  1

Short-billed Dowitcher  25

Spotted Sandpiper  2

Greater Yellowlegs  20

Willet  6

Lesser Yellowlegs  10

Laughing Gull  50

Ring-billed Gull  1

Herring Gull  10

Great Black-backed Gull  3

Least Tern  7

Gull-billed Tern  6

Common Tern  2

Forster's Tern  45

Black Skimmer  15

Double-crested Cormorant  25

Least Bittern  1    Heard around marker 4

Great Blue Heron  7

Great Egret  30

Snowy Egret  10

Tricolored Heron  1

Black-crowned Night-Heron  5    Scattered around the refuge

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2

White Ibis  2    Immature mottled brown And white with orange beaks. At dogleg. 

Glossy Ibis  50

White-faced Ibis  1    Red eye. Seen briefly in channel off north dike. Very skittish.

Turkey Vulture  3

Osprey  10

Northern Harrier  1    Mobbed by blackbirds.

Bald Eagle  1

Willow Flycatcher  1

Eastern Phoebe  1

Eastern Kingbird  1

White-eyed Vireo  2    Heard

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1

Fish Crow  2

Purple Martin  20

Tree Swallow  10

Bank Swallow  5

Barn Swallow  10

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard parking lot

House Wren  1    Heard

Marsh Wren  6

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Gray Catbird  2

European Starling  20

American Goldfinch  4    Heard

Chipping Sparrow  2

Seaside Sparrow  7

Saltmarsh Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  1    Heard

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Common Grackle  1

Boat-tailed Grackle  1

Common Yellowthroat  10

Yellow Warbler  1