Turkey Vultures

Although I've been having troubles photographing the little birds, the turkey vultures are coming to our yard frequently, especially in the late afternoon and evening.

Look alive! Or they might think you're carrion and come down for a nip. I guess it would help if you smelled really bad, too.

I don't think this vulture is appreciative of me taking photos of him.

The trees are starting to leaf out (at least the poplars and ashes; the catalpas are always the latest to get their leaves). The greenery will be a welcome sight, but they do make it harder to see the birds. Time to remember what all their songs are!

My Backyard Birds-Part 1

So what birds have seen in your backyard?

I hope you're keeping a list, because this is just the beginning of some fun bird watching, and over the next couple of months our lists are going to grow considerably (hence the Part 1 of this blog post title).

Is this one of the birds you've seen?
Turkey vultures are found all across the U.S., with year-round habitat in the southern part up through the Midwest, and summer habitat everywhere else. We see them in this area primarily in the spring and fall, although from time to time in the summer we also spot them. With the turbulent spring weather we've been having, they've been having a grand old time soaring in the wind. Turkey vultures might be considered good clean-up birds--they take care of those messes like road kill for us. (Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Aves; Order: Falconiformes; Family: Cathartidae; Cathartes aura).

I've been hearing lots of the sweet calls of the Western Meadowlark (Animalia; Chordata; Aves; Passeriformes; Passeridae; Sturnella neglecta). They're one of the earlier birds to breed in the spring time, and they are very common around the ranch calling for a mate from fence posts and the top of sagebush. The Eastern Meadowlark is found in the eastern U.S., with hybrids in the middle of the country.

Killdeer have been hopping around. Henry really likes to chase them, but despite that, every year they return to near our yard. Killdeer (Animalia; Chordata; Aves; Charadiiformes; Charadriidae; Charadius vociferus) have an appropriate species name. Vociferus is Latin for loud, and killdeer run around and fly saying what sounds like "kill deer, kill deer." They are known for pretending to have a broken wing and dragging their wing on the ground to distract predators from their nests on the ground. They're found all over North America.

Yesterday I heard sandhill cranes. My husband calls these flying pterodactyls, as they are so big and seem so prehistoric. Sandhill cranes (Animalia; Chordata; Aves; Gruiformes; Gruidae; Grus canadensis) are found in much of North America. Sandhill cranes remind me of family visits to a game preserve to see great displays. (The link has some fantastic photos my sister-in-law took. As you can see from the lack of photos in this post, photographing birds is not my forte.)

Birds that have been around all winter that I mustn't forget include:
(If you are following the classification scheme, you know that these are all Animalia; Chordata; Aves; so I will just omit that part.)

Red-shafted flicker (Piciformes; Picidae; Colaptes auratus), that likes to make holes in trees and our house;
Black-billed magpie (Passeriformes; Corvidae; Pica pica), with its super long tail and black-and-white distinctive coloring;
Common raven (Passieriformes; Corvidae; Corvus corax), the ubiquitous bird around the ranch
European starling (Passeriformes; Sturnidae; Sturnus vulgaris), the annoying invader from Europe.
Dark-eyed junco (Passeriformes; Passeridae; Junco hyemalis), with its distinctive outer white tail feathers.

And now we have snow again, so it might be a day or two before the bird sightings pick up. I hope you're seeing some interesting birds in your yard!

Backyard Biodiversity Challenge #2

Do you have your trees figured out? Even if you don't have them all named, you can assign Tree1, Tree2, Tree3, etc. to the ones you don't know and keep working on figuring them out.

While you're enjoying the trees, it's time to start Backyard Biodiversity Challenge #2:

WHAT BIRDS DO YOU SEE IN YOUR YARD?

We're in migratory bird season, which means that there are a lot of birds making their way from the warmer southern climes to their breeding grounds up north.

In fact, I noticed lots of snow birds on the road this week. Snow birds=RVs that spend the winter in the south and the summer in the north. People have already learned a lot from birds! (Sorry, I couldn't help digressing.)

One thing you might want to do as you write down the birds you see (and yes, I strongly recommend writing them down in a dedicated biodiversity journal) is to note when you first saw them in 2011. Then you can compare that with another year (assuming you'll keep doing this!) and see if the birds are coming earlier or later or not at all. These records can actually prove to be quite important. Ornithology, the study of birds, is heavily reliant upon amateur observations, and many databases are comprised primarily of sightings from citizen scientists.

Another cool thing about getting into the habit of observing the birds in your yard is that you don't have to travel far, but some of the birds have come from or are heading thousands of miles away.

So leave a note--what birds are you seeing? And what birds have traveled/will travel the farthest?

Snow Geese

Forgot to mention that the Snow Goose Festival was also very well attended by the snow geese.

S.P.U.D.

One bright and early morning, I was doing a bird survey. I came across this strange marking in the dirt. It looked like something had Sniffed, Pawed, Urinated, and Defecated. What could it be?

The horned larks watched me, wondering why I was taking photos of poop.

I found some old dried out scat, with the same markings around them.

The meadowlark on the fence post continued singing its melodic song, ignoring my traipsing next to its perch.

The meadowlarks are fun to watch, with their big, chunky bodies. And you always know spring has arrived when they start singing.

I found some more scat next to a squat bush, with the same pawing marks nearby.

The yellow-headed blackbirds were amused by the extra entertainment.

And yet another SPUD. All were next to the field. Have you figured it out yet?

This yellow-headed blackbird watched the animals that made it. They like to go into the fields and get an easy meal.

Ah, some very fresh and moist scat.

If you're still reading this blog at this point, there might be something wrong with you. But probably you're better off than me, who actually thought this might be a fun post. Maybe I've been getting up too early too many mornings and have lost my marbles.

The Say's Phoebe watched me pass by.

Another SPUD. They're everywhere!

Nope, this bull had nothing to do with the SPUD. But I thought he was rather fierce and deserved his own photo.

Okay, time for your final guess, because here's the answer:
Pronghorn antelope bucks leave SPUD. They are territorial markings. And now your day has been enhanced by visiting this blog. Come back soon!

More Birds

Here are a few more favorite bird photos. Above, a barn swallow.

Western Kingbird

Western Tanager

Another view of the Western Tanager

Birds and Landscapes

I've been having fun looking at birds lately--they are so exciting this time of year because they're all full of songs and chattering and looking for mates, and you can just sense the energy they have as they prepare to make a nest and hatch their young and continue their lineage. Okay, that was a major run on sentence, but that's the mood I'm in. I just want to gush about birds and being bound by the rules of the English language seems far too constraining.

I've taken gobs of bird photos, and today I've selected a few that also have some nice backgrounds. A little wildlife can make the background so much more interesting. Above is a yellow-headed blackbird just about to land on some willows, with the Snake Creek Range in the background.
I was surprised by a flock of ibis flying over the sagebrush. Ibis like water, and the sagebrush make them seem so out of place.

Meanwhile, an egret ignored the background behind her, namely the cows ruminating.

And then we can see the whole tableau, the ibises landing in the wetlands while the cattle graze on the edge and the tiny white egret ignores them all.

One evening I took a walk down by the ranch pond right at sunset. It was a glorious time, with phalaropes swirling around and dipping their bills in the water to eat invertebrates.

A mallard looked quite serene and found a bit of quiet on the pond all for himself.

The swirling phalaropes kept attracting my eye as they swirled and dipped and whirled some more, like tops out of control.

Sandpipers hung out in the shallows, probing the mud, while the giant tree on the other side of the pond spread its arms, getting ready to welcome the quiet of the night.

Owls, Owls, and More Owls

This has been a great spring for owls. I've seen them all over. Here is a baby great horned owl sitting in the large nest. It still has its fuffy feathers.

Baby owls are rather large, so I can only imagine all the work that must go into feeding them. It has been a very good rodent year, so perhaps that's why we're seeing so many owls. I wouldn't mind a few more around my house!

Fifteen miles away from the first owl nest we found these two owls hiding out in a tree. Do you see both of them? The one on the lower right is partially obscured by the branch.

This tree is right outside our house and there are four owls on it. Do you see them all?

On the lower branch on the right is the mama and a young one.

On the left about half way up is this fluffy juvenile.

And near the top on the left is this juvenile. Can you see the talons?

I think mama owl is winking at me! And the baby has its beak open, telling me to beat it.

So it's time to head to a different habitat to look at an owl species I haven't seen in years.

This is a burrowing owl. Instead of making a nest in a tree, it raises its young in a burrow. This is probably the male, keeping an active lookout while the female incubates the eggs.

I didn't go very close because I didn't want to disturb it, but I think you can still tell from the photo that it's a really cool owl. I hope the young do well and they return next year.

Some Desert Wildlife

I just love taking walks in the desert in the spring. It's not too hot and there is so much going on! Here's a sampling from one of my recent walks near EskDale. Above is a clouded sulphur butterfly munching on some blue mustard. On calm days, it is easy to see hundreds, if not thousands, of sulphurs around alfalfa fields, and apparently they occasionally want the taste of something a little different.

This is a very large western fence lizard. It was hanging out on the dark rock, sunbathing. It looked like a pretty good idea. He wouldn't let me join him, though, he kept darting away.

Here's another view of the western fence lizard. You can see the faint horizontal bands going across the lizard's body and tail.


Hiding under a bush was a baby horned lizard, just a few inches long. They blend in so well with their surroundings that it's nearly impossible to find one unless it races from one bush to another.

The Western kingbirds were having fun flitting around on the greasewood, but they sat still long enough for me to snap this photo, with the Deep Creek Range in the background. I am really thankful I live in such a beautiful place. Just looking at these photos makes me ready to go back out for another desert walk!

Check Out the Birds!

There's still time to be involved in Christmas Bird Counts! Here's a post on Protect Snake Valley about an upcoming one, along with some preliminary results from other area bird counts.

Do you know the bird pictured above? It was a surprise in the South Snake Valley Christmas Bird Count, the first time it had been seen in the winter count. The answer is at the link.

2009 Christmas Bird Count

2009 marks the 110th Christmas Bird Count, a remarkable data set. Every year from mid-December to early January, Christmas Bird Counts are held throughout the country (and in a few places outside the U.S.) to document what birds are within a 7.5 mile radius circle. Over the years, this data shows what bird species are increasing or decreasing.

Yesterday I went to Ely to help with their first Christmas Bird Count. It was an enjoyable day, despite the huge numbers of European starlings, Eurasian collared doves, and house finches we saw--all non-native species. We did manage to see some more unusual birds, like a flock of cedar waxwings in someone's yard, two sharp-shinned hawks cruising by bird feeders looking for an easy meal, and two rough-legged hawks out in the Steptoe Wildlife Management Area. I haven't heard the final numbers, but I think the preliminary ones are 41 species and over 4,000 birds counted for all the groups.

The fun continues tomorrow, with the Snake Valley Christmas Bird Count. And then Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge has one on January 3. For more info, visit the Christmas Bird Count website.

More Breeding Birds

I've gotten to see some more interesting birds early in the morning lately. One is the Long-billed Curlew. It definitely has a long bill. And its voice sounds sort of like cur-lew. If more birds were named like this, I think more people might get interested in bird watching. When you have names like Sprague's Pipit or King Rail, it's just hard to visualize a bird.

The long-billed curlew put up quite a ruckus when I stopped for ten minutes to document all the birds that were around me. It flew close, making me wonder how strong that long bill is. It fluttered around on the ground. It was doing a good job distracting me, which, of course, was its goal. Somewhere nearby is a little nest with eggs, and the long-billed curlew didn't want me to find it. (I didn't.)

And it wasn't just one bird, there were several. They were a noisy gang. I really enjoy watching long-billed curlews, though, and overall their population is declining due to reduced habitat. So I feel good that they are doing well out here.

With that long bill, they are even easy to recognize in flight.

On a different survey, I was walking along listening to the million and one meadowlarks when I came upon this silent bird at the water's edge. It's a Wilson's Phalarope, and it was all by its lonesome.

It likes to hunt for insects in the mud, and its longish bill helps it probe the water bottom. 

It never made a sound as I watched, just hopped here and there.

It's quite an interesting-looking bird, and it was fun seeing something out of the ordinary.

Something else out of the ordinary was the sky. The clouds moved fast overhead, and at one point I saw strange striations up above the greasewood. My imagination quickly moved to aliens...

I forced myself to go back to birds and was rewarded seeing  a mother mallard and her little ducklings. Last year I saw mallard ducklings in almost the exact same place. Perhaps next year I will see some again? Although life is full of change, it's nice to have a few things stay the same.