2017 Backyard Birds

As hinted at in the last post, we have an announcement! We've been keeping track of our backyard birds for the last three years. The last two years we had 35 species. In 2017, we were really hoping to break that record, and we did! Here's to 36 species! Here they are:

1. Black-billed Magpie

2. European Starling

3. Townsend's Solitaire

4. Eurasian Collared Dove

5. American Robin

6. Golden Eagle (1.19.17)

7. Red-tailed Hawk

8. Great Horned Owl

9. Canada Goose (1.22.17)

10. Dark-eyed Junco (1.22.17)

11. American Kestrel (3.2.17)

12. Killdeer (3.6.17)

13. Common Raven (3.16.17)

14. Turkey Vulture (3.24.17)

15. Western Meadowlark (3.24.17)

16. Sandhill Crane (3.30.17)

17. Mountain Bluebird (3.25.17)

18. Northern Flicker (3.24.17)

19. Mallard (3.25.17)

20. Great Blue Heron (3.31.17)

21. Audubon's Warbler (4.15.17)

22. Barn Swallow (5.2.17)

23. Bullock's Oriole (5.9.17)

24. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (5.18.17)

25. Tree Swallow (5.10.17)

26. Yellow Warbler (5.13.17)

27. Western Kingbird

28. Mourning Dove (5.23.17)

29. Northern Mockingbird (5.23.17)

30. Common Nighthawk (6.4.17)

31. Swainson's Hawk (6.13.17)

32. Hummingbird (July 2017)

33. Bald Eagle (Dec 2017)

34. Pinyon Jay (Dec 2017)

35. White-crwoned Sparrow (Dec 2017)

36. American Goldfinch (Dec 2017)

And a few photos (not necessarily from the yard, but close by):

Blurry bald eagle in the yard

Bluebirds and cows

Dark-eyed junco

American goldfinch (Desert Girl identified this one all by herself by looking it up in the bird book)

American kestrel--nesting again in our yard

Killdeer

Mallard

Common ravens circling (Desert Girl's photo)

American robin

Sandhill cranes

Turkey vultures

We didn't get a couple species I thought we would, so maybe next year we'll break 36? It helps that the kids are improving their birding skills. We'll try to keep track again on the sidebar of the blog.

If you're keeping track of birds you see, hope your 2018 list is longer than ever!

A Trip to Crystal Peak

 

 My brother was in town and wanted an adventure, so we headed out to Crystal Peak. This is a small mountain made of Tunnel Springs Tuff, about 33 million years old. The light colored rock really reflects the light, so on summer afternoons, it looks like the mountain is glowing. In the winter, the sun is in the south, so we don't get the same effect, but up close, the mountain is still beautiful.

Desert Girl really wanted to find some fossils, and along the south side of the mountain, the tuff meets up with the highly fossiliferous Kanosh Shale. It didn't take long for the rock hammer to come out!

We started seeing some fossils, mainly brachiopods.

But then we found some different fossils (maybe a cephalapod?).

 We weren't sure what caused the iron intrusion next to these brachiopods.

We kept going higher to see if we could make it to the summit. I remembered doing it a few years ago  and had conveniently forgotten all the hard parts. (That's one of my skills for going back to unpleasant caves.) I had also forgotten the right landmarks. I should have read my 2014 Crystal Peak blog post, which conveniently shows the easiest way up to the summit. We started up a gully.

We had some spectacular views of the Burbank Hills, the distant Snake Range including Wheeler Peak, and the Flat Ferguson Desert. We also had a scary climb. The tuff is not a solid rock, and handholds and footholds will suddenly break.

Desert Boy had elected to wait below with the dog, but Desert Girl was ready for a challenge.

Ed made it to the top! Well, the top of one part of the mountain. It wasn't the tippy top because I had led us up the wrong gully, but the views were still awesome.

We decided that was good enough for the day, and started heading down. Down is actually much harder than up--back to that rock crumbling part.

The interesting hollows in the rock are called tafoni. I only know that because I read my 2014 blog post. :)

It seemed like we went down a long, long time.

Looking through a tafoni window towards a peak to the south. Yeah, I have to get a little artsy fartsy sometime.

The true peak is up above the nearly sheer cliff just right of center in the photo below.

We met up with Desert Boy and Maggie. Desert Boy had been in a bad mood, but the rest had cured him, and now he was happy.

The late afternoon light was magnificent, highlighting the shadows on the mountain. This peak is full of challenges, and I'm sure we'll be back! If you want to see and read more about this peak, check out the 2014 post and the 2009 post.

Still have to teach the dog how to sit still for a photo and not come to me!

Walking Around (Through) Pruess Lake

 On the first day of Thanksgiving Break, it was warm. Actually it was hot! We joined some friends at Pruess Lake, south of Garrison, Utah. We had had a crazy morning so were running a little late, so we hurried to catch up.

 These boys were busy trying to make a little dam, so it wasn't too hard to catch up!

The low water (we have hardly had any rain in two months!) met that the lake level was extremely low. We found lots of California floaters along the shore.

After about an hour, we were hungry, so broke out some snacks and a stove to cook hot dogs. (The fire didn't work, so good thing there was a backup! We'll have to practice our fire making skills.)

Then came something particularly interesting--a live California floater. We had fun looking at its gooey insides. Then Desert Girl put it back in the lake.

Isaac found a goose decoy.

Desert Girl had a bag to collect her treasures.

The kids were excited to find a mini-lake. It was obvious they were interested in the water. So was I.

I couldn't resist taking off my shoes, rolling up my pants legs, and walking in the water. Most everyone followed.

The water was warm. The mud was gooey. It felt great.

The water was so calm that we had great reflections.

Eventually we came out to a muddy beach.

And then it was time to wallow in the mud!

I accidentally stepped into a soft spot and ended up coated in mud.

Desert Boy got trapped later and needed help.

We hiked a bit further.

The water was so shallow the kids could go way out in the lake and it was still only ankle deep.

And then they started wallowing in the mud and water again. You'd think it was summer!

The mud was a little sticky, so they were looking a bit dirty.

Maybe "a bit dirty" is an understatement.

We tried taking a shortcut to get back, but the mud got super deep. I was sinking up to my knees with every step. It was like post holing through snow, only warmer. The beautiful views kept us going, and we eventually made it back to the vehicles. It was a good adventure, and quite amazing we could do it in late November.

The part I didn't get photos of: the cleanup! The kids didn't particularly like being hosed off. And we had to soak their clothes in a bucket of water outside before putting them in the washer. It was still worth it!

Frontier Homestead State Park and Other Kid-Friendly Destinations in Cedar City, Utah

For fall break we headed to Cedar City for two days. Spending the night allowed us to see some new things, like Frontier Homestead State Park. It's right on main street and really obvious, but we had always put it off for another day. Fortunately, that day finally arrived!

The state park has a big museum building with lots of photo stops. The kids were happy to participate.

They got engaged trying to plan what to take in their wagon.

Of course dressing up was fun!

Then we went outside, where there are lots of buildings and equipment. Desert Boy was delighted to find lincoln logs, and Desert Girl and I left him there while we toured the oldest brick house in Cedar City, an old school house, and more. When we returned, Desert Boy had made some elaborate structures.

Desert Girl had her turn to play (we were the only visitors at that time), so Desert Boy and I wandered over to the Native American section and checked out the moundhouse.

We also visited the old iron buildings. Originally the state park was called Iron Mission, as some pioneers were sent to mine the Iron. Hence the name Iron County (my aha moment!). I had never really given much thought as to where blacksmiths obtained their supplies.

We just skimmed the surface of this state park, there is so much more to learn. They have a very active friends group.

So what else is there to do in Cedar City that is kid friendly?

The main reason we were there was to go to the pediatric dentist. The kids are happy here, watching movies. A little later they found out they had their first cavities, which definitely wasn't so happy.

We went to the Garth and Jerri Frehner Natural History Museum on the Southern Utah University campus. The museum is small, but has some interesting items. Desert Girl liked all the shells. Desert Boy liked the animals you see below. Check the exhibits tab on their website to see more photos of what they have, including the famous two-headed calf.

Just down the street is the Southern Utah Museum of Art. We went there for the first time last year and really liked it, so we went back and were intrigued with a new exhibit, about dresses. (Okay, Desert Boy wasn't that interested, but he got to do some coloring, and that kept him very happy.)

A perennial favorite is the Cedar City Aquatic Center. Since we weren't in a hurry, we spent hours there. I may or may not have fallen asleep briefly in one of the comfortable reclining chairs along the edge.

When we left the aquatic center, we took a look at the pond (reservoir) adjacent to it. It's called Lake at the Hills. There are sand volleyball courts, fishing, and a beach. Apparently you can rent kayaks in summer. We'll have to check it out again!

We also enjoyed walking around. We went to the Cedar City Public Library and bought a bag of books for $5. We also enjoyed the wildlife art they had on display, and the kids read for half an hour. Then they climbed on the playground just outside the library. One the way back to the motel, the kids insisted that I take a photo of them posing with this statue in front of City Hall. They are trying to imitate the statue.

Something else we did was take an ethnic gastronomic tour of Cedar City. We ate Thai at Sweet Basil (always delicious!), Guatemalan at El Quetzal (the tamales and tacos were deliciosos, the empanadas not so much), Japanese at Ninja (the kids show what they thought of it below--I liked the sushi), and French at the French Cafe (fantastic tarts, crepes, and quiche). Desert Girl wants to learn some French now.

We still have Indian, Peruvian, Chinese, and possibly more to try. An older food review somewhere complained about the food desert of southern Utah, but I'd have to say that Cedar City has quite a variety.


For a few more ideas of what to do with kids in Cedar City (that don't involve hiking or biking, which the kids wanted to take a break from), check out this list.