Observing a Tiny Wasatch Mountain Watering Hole

I love living in Utah! I can go from home to any number of wildlife habitats in ten to thirty minutes. I can get to a major lake, ponds, canyons, agricultural areas and grasslands, or several riparian habitats in ten to fifteen minutes. I can be in desert or a mix of aspen and conifer near the top of a mountain in less than 30 minutes, desert to the west and mountains to the east. Each season changes the wildlife seen at all of these locations. If you love the outdoors you'd love visiting and exploring Utah.

After spending two Saturday mornings in a row exploring desert habitat I chose to head east to the mountains for this past Saturday morning's outdoor adventure. I drove up American Fork Canyon via SR 92, made my way over the 8000' summit and dropped about two miles down the east side of the summit on Cascade Scenic Drive, leaving Utah County and entering Wasatch County, to a relatively unknown spring. I haven't decided what to call this location quite yet, but I'm working on a name for it.

This is the scene that greeted me Saturday morning as I pulled off the road into a dirt lot. Snow could be seen on the top of Mount Timpanogos (Nearly 12000'). The small spring is located at the base of the dead conifers you see just right of center in the image below.

Lincoln's Sparrows, MacGillivary's Warblers, and Red-naped Sapsuckers are almost guaranteed in this little patch. I spent some of my observation time sitting in the shady dirt spot to the left and the rest of my time sitting in the tall grass right in front of the fallen trees. In total I observed the comings and goings for about an hour and twenty minutes to capture the images that follow.

Here is the water hole from the perspective of the shady little dirt spot from which I watched some of the birds and mammals come and go. The birds would come to the water, drink or bathe, and the take a perch on the surrounding branches and snags to shake, fluff, and preen themselves. There were lots of little feathers around the water. The salmon flight feathers of Northern Flickers were fun to discover.

In total I watched 24 bird, two mammal, and a few butterfly species come to this tiny watering hole. This little spot sustained life for a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects, but the dead pine was a reminder that there is a full cycle to life on this earth. Here are some of the images I captured during Saturday morning's Wasatch mountain waterhole watch.

Male MacGillivray's Warbler in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Male MacGillivray's Warbler in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Dark-eyed Junco, Gray-headed Subspecies, Fluffing After Bathing, in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Dark-eyed Junco, Gray-headed Subspecies, in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Male Pine Siskin in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Red-breasted Nuthatch in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

American Robin in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Least Chipmunk in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Female Red-naped Sapsucker in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)
Males typically do not have the solid black border between the red throat and white line meeting the bill. That solid black border is typical of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, but female Red-naped also show this border. Typical Range and call of the bird were used to identify as Red-naped.

Female Red-naped Sapsucker in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Weidemeyer's Admiral in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Mule Deer (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Lincoln's Sparrow in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Lincoln's Sparrow in Wasatch County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

My peaceful experience with nature was interrupted when I heard kids shooting guns from the hillside to my left. They were talking about shooting birds and the cars passing on the road between them and me. I didn't know what kind of guns they were shooting when I heard a projectile penetrate the tree leaves next to me and then whiz by my right ear. I knew they were pumping the guns before firing so I suspected they were playing with BB guns. I quickly remembered the "sins" of my childhood, so to speak, so I wasn't going to cast any stones, but I did hike up the hill to provide some gentle instruction to the little guys. Two of the little tykes can be seen below. Faces are not shown to protect their identities. The rifle below is aimed right toward where I had been sitting moments before hiking up the hill. It turned out that they were playing with Airsoft guns. The ones that fire little plastic balls.

I talked to the the little guys about safety first and then about not shooting at birds and cars and wildly into trees. I went into their campsite and informed mom and dad just so they'd be aware. Dad kind of looked at me as if I had two heads on my shoulders. Mom was very apologetic. After I left I overheard dad correcting the boys.

On my way back home I stopped briefly at Timpooneke Campground and captured some images of Western Tanagers. I settled for the tanager images because the Cordilleran Flycatchers weren't being cooperative. Those flycatchers were singing actively throughout the canyons Saturday. They are back in Utah's mountains and canyons in force.

Male Western Tanager Timpooneke Campground in Utah County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Male Western Tanager Timpooneke Campground in Utah County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Where to go for my next outing--that's always a fun question to answer. We'll just have to wait and see as the week progresses.