2016 St. George Winter Bird Festival

The last weekend of January means it's time for the St. George Winter Bird Festival. I've gone the last few years, enjoying the warmer weather. And while it's rained quite a bit in previous years, this year's forecast was for no precipitation and highs of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit each day. I registered a few weeks in advance and although a few field trips were full, I was able to get in on the Photography trip to Lytle Ranch, which had a capacity of 12 people.

We drove over an hour from St. George to BYU's Lytle Ranch Preserve past St. Clara. I had never been on that road, and it was so neat seeing the transition from Great Basin Desert to Mojave Desert. The sagebrush slowly disappeared to be replaced by Joshua trees, creosote, and cholla cactus. Then we dipped down into a canyon and saw a riparian zone. It was quite a surprise.

 

The caretaker, Umberto, gave us an introduction to the Preserve. Then our leader told us that we were free to wander for the next two hours and take photos of whatever we wanted. It wasn't quite what I was expected, but I was up for anything.

A phainopepla appeared, looking sort of like an all-black cardinal. It's a super cool bird (as I found out when I looked it up). It doesn't need to drink much water, as it can get almost all its moisture from the mistletoe berries it eats. And it can eat 1200 mistletoe berries a day! It also breeds twice a year, in both woodland and desert habitats.

And on the other side of the bush, this was the view:

I wandered down a path for a bit, seeing lots of house finches in the field and trees. This one was busy eating the seeds on the tree.

I got a better view of a phainopepla. It's a new bird species for me, so I was pretty excited.

Although the riparian area was really nice, I couldn't resist scampering up a hill to check out some of the Mojave Desert. I got a great view.

And also some closeups of Joshua trees. These are such cool plants!

I didn't see any cactus wrens, or for that matter any other birds, but I wanted to hang out a little longer, so I wandered around. Although the creek running through the ranch was tiny (maybe 1 cfs), it's apparent that when it floods, it floods a lot, with the streambed over 100 m wide in places.


This dead Joshua tree seemed worthy of a photo.


I eventually descended and saw a belted kingfisher, killdeer, American robin, mallards, and more. I really liked this tree. Maybe it wasn't a bird, but hey, it was a photography workshop, right?


I caught up with another photographer, and then this purple finch flew really close to us, posing on a branch. We both got some nice photos of it.

I had missed the western bluebirds that others had seen earlier, so I went in search of them. This one landed briefly on top of a Joshua tree.

It didn't stay long to get a very clear photo of it, but fortunately this one landed not too far away. Such pretty birds!

On the way out, I got an even better of a phainopepla. All together, our group saw 27 species. I learned some good tips--ditch the tripod for hiking around, and carry a backpack to put all my layers in. It started about 30 degrees but quickly warmed up.

My mother-in-law had kindly agreed to watch the kids, so when I got back I retrieved them and then took them to the aquatic center, which is a place they really love. Then it was dinner at a delicious new restaurant in downtown St. George, The Twisted Noodle Cafe. Finally, our last event of the day, watching The Martian at the $2 Red Cliffs Cinema. We had listened to the story at Christmas, so the kids knew what to expect and enjoyed it. But as we left the theater, Desert Girl told me, "I don't want to be an astronaut. Too many things can go bad. I want to be a paleontologist."

The next day we took our van in to be serviced (no trip to town is complete without multi-tasking!). We had our bikes with us so rode up to Tonaquint Park to make birdhouses. They also had a football toss option, and Desert Boy chose to do that.

Desert Girl really likes hammering, but this wasn't the easiest project for her.

Nevertheless, we got it done.

Thank you, Home Depot, for having this event!

Then we listened to an interesting talk by Hawkwatch International comparing birds and dinosaurs and at the end saw this Swainson's Hawk.

Next up was a Western Screech Owl. So tiny! We hear Great Horned Owls almost every night in our yard and see them frequently, and they are so much bigger.

We ate lunch at the concessions provided by the Red Cliffs Audubon stand. Then the kids wanted to bike to Cottonwood Park, a really cool playground. We got on our bikes and started up the bike trail.

Along the way we saw an American kestrel. Very nice!

The kids were done with organized activities, so while my mother-in-law watched them, I explored bike trails for an hour. St. George has a wonderful urban bike/hike trail system. It was such bliss getting in a good workout and checking out some new and different scenery. And such a contrast from the wintery conditions we would face on the drive home the next day.

The St. George Winter Bird Festival has so many activities, we only scratched the surface. Hopefully we will be back next year and do even more. Rumor has it the festival might move to Hurricane, which would be more willing to assist with the festival. The EMT conference I went to in December is moving from Salt Lake to Provo next year. It turns out sometimes a smaller city is a better venue because they are more willing to work with the organizers and provide more assistance.

Anyway, thanks to all who put on the St. George Winter Bird Festival, we really enjoyed it!

2016 Fish Springs Christmas Bird Count

 The first Saturday after Christmas is the traditional day for the Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Bird Count. I've done it a couple times before and really enjoyed it, so when our schedule allowed us to return this year, I did a little happy dance. Then the day before, we drove two hours on gravel roads to get there. It's a beautiful drive, but pretty isolated.

Fish Springs has a wonderful bunkhouse, and when we arrived we found the current refuge manager, the past refuge manager, and a very nice couple from Salt Lake City. We settled in and had dinner. Then the kids wondered if they could eat the gingerbread house. They eventually worked up the nerve to ask and were delighted to hear they could.


The next morning we split up and went to different areas of the count circle. Desert Boy ventured out with me along one slough, despite the very cold temperatures.

We could tell where the water was because the frozen vegetation stuck up around it. From a distance we could see a little water and birds on it. The American coots are easy to identify, with their all black bodies and white bills. The duck was a harder--I'm no duck expert. I think it's a wigeon (if not, please let me know!)

I paused a bit to admire the beautiful ice crystals.

Even the coyote tracks had ice crystals!

Birds were frequently taking flight, this is hunting season after all, and they see humans as predators. Below are northern pintails and mallards.

One of the most common birds were green-winged teals. When I got a close enough look, their colors were magnificent. They are a smaller duck, so that makes it easier to distinguish them when they fly.

Mixed in with the coots were pied-billed grebes, a smaller bird that dives frequently.

We all gathered for lunch and then afterwards it was time for the big refuge-wide count. That involved the refuge manager trying to get all the birds up in the air, driving from one spring to the next and honking his horn, while the rest of us sat at designated locations and tried to count and identify.

It's not just a few birds. More like hundreds. In fact, our total was about one thousand. That's very low, but it still seemed like a lot of birds to me.

At the spring where I was hanging out I got to see some Greater Yellowlegs.

I also enjoyed the ducks, first going opposite directions...

...then they figured out where they were going.

My most exciting bird was an American bittern.

The kids were good sports. Birding isn't their favorite activity, but Desert Boy said he liked the great blue heron and many northern harriers we saw. He also brought up our backyard bird list and has been enthusiastically adding species to that. So far we're a little ahead from last year.

But probably what the kids liked best was making new friends at the bunkhouse, playing hide'n seek, and devouring the gingerbread house.

 It was a fun weekend, and I hope to do it again!

Christmas Bird Count - 2015

 It's nearly Christmas, which means it's time for the Christmas Bird Count! Started in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running bird count in the country. It started with a simple idea--instead of going out and shooting the birds, why not count them instead? It caught on, and today over 2,000 places participate in Christmas Bird Counts around the world. They are held between December 14 and January 5, which means you still have time to participate in one! I have a link at the end to help you find your nearest count.

I participated in the Snake Valley CBC on Monday. It was a cold and windy day and not very pleasant to be outside. Nevertheless, the birding was actually decent. I had a new camera lens and had fun putting it to the test. Above, I was happy to see individual feathers on the Dark-eyed Junco.

A Mallard took flight when I got close.

I heard the chattering of the Belted Kingfisher before I saw him. What a hairdo! Or should I say featherdo? I wonder if the tips of his feathers had frozen. He was hanging out at the rearing station, which is full of yummy fish, his favorite food. Smart bird.

Not all the birds are so easy to see. In fact, for quite a few of them I have to peer into bushes and wait for them to move where I can see enough identifying features. (In the summer, I never see about 40% of the birds, I just have to identify them by their songs and calls.) Below you can see the striped breast with a central spot of the Song Sparrow.

I headed up Snake Creek into Great Basin National Park, where the road was snow-covered. Many years I can't go too far up this road for the CBC, but there has been so little snow this year, I just kept going and going.

At one stop I was rewarded with a close-up view of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

I made it to the end of the road, where I admired the new interpretive signs. It will be fun to head out on those trails next spring and summer.

After I finished Snake Creek I went down to Pruess Lake to see what was out. There was some ice on the lake, but not too much. I saw a bird fly down to a little mud island, and it turned out to be a Northern Flicker.

At the other end of the lake were hundreds of ducks, but the lighting wasn't the best for identifying them.

However, it was fun lighting for getting ducks and their shadows.

And I enjoyed seeing two rows of ducks march.

On Wednesday I went into Ely for their CBC. Here is one of the exotic birds we saw. Do you know what it is?

If you answered emu, you're right! We found three of them plus an ostrich on a ranchette just outside of town.

We didn't find a whole lot of birds, even though the day was beautiful. Nevertheless, it was nice to be outside and enjoying the beauty around us. Here's a Northern Harrier.

Maybe this inspires you to participate in a CBC? There are lots of Christmas Bird Counts left this season, and all experience levels are welcome. To learn more, check out Audubon's website.

Happy Birding!