A Short Stroll in the Park

I was loading the last few dirty dishes into the washer this evening when I glanced out the kitchen window to check the position of the sun. I could see that daylight was short, but I figured I might be able to fit in a few minutes of checking for migrating warblers at Highland Glen Park.

The park is just five minutes from my home and right behind the local high school. It just so happened that there was a home football game getting ready to start so the road to the park was quite congested. The slow-moving swarm of cars near the school caused me to lose more light than I hoped. Fortunately, the first movement I saw in the trees when I arrived at the park turned out to be an unexpected species--White-breasted Nuthatch. That's a great bird for that park and it took less than ten seconds to spot.

I watched tonight's nuthatch forage along the trunk and major branches of the trees near the parking lot. I heard another one calling and realized there were at least two making a pit stop in the park as they were heading to their final destinations. The image I captured tonight (right) caught the bird moving up the tree. The more typical view of a White-breasted Nuthatch can be seen in the image below. I captured this image during a previous encounter with the species.



As I was watching the nuthatches and hearing other birds call from their various positions around the parking lot a Western Scrub-Jay flew into my view.  I immediately noticed that the Jay was missing all of its tail feathers.

I and other people who spend time birding occasionally run across birds missing their tail feathers. Sometimes the lack of tail feathers is a result of molting. Sometimes it is a result of predation, losing the tail feathers as a result of being attacked by a predator. It could be some sort of disease or other cause as well. I've never really noticed much of a struggle to fly for any of the tail-less birds I've encountered. The image to the right shows the typical tail for a Western Scrub-Jay. I captured this image when a Jay perched above one of my backyard feeders.

I strolled up to the pond just as the sun dropped below the horizon tonight. Along the way I heard the celebration that erupted from the home team crowd as a touch down was scored. I saw small groups of teenagers flirting with one another. It was obvious they were on their way to the football game with their school shirts and painted faces, but they had become distracted by their fascination with one another. Flirting was prioritized over football. And who can blame them? Families and individuals were fishing and walking around the park. I stopped my stroll, looked toward the sunset, and realized it was a beautiful backdrop to happy people enjoying the local park.

A Day and a Half in Southwestern Utah

I had some fun experiences during the day and a half I spent recently in the St George area of Utah. I was going to create a few posts from the trip, but I decided to simply share random images of birds, scenery, mammals, and plants from the trip. I saw over 100 species of birds so only a few are included in this post. While I am not including images, I did see two Roadrunners during my trip. I've learned to not look for them because they appear when you don't expect them. If you look for them you'll never see them. That's been my experience with them.

I spent about an hour at Tonaquint Park as soon as I arrived in St George. I needed to burn some time while waiting for other birders to get into town. The red on the face of this Western Tanager is naturally occurring, part of its plumage. The red on the bill, however, is staining from the mulberries he was enjoying in that tree.

Western Tanager at Tonaquint Park in St George, UT

Lesser Goldfinch at Tonaquint Park in St George, UT

Rock Squirrel at Tonaquint Park in St George, UT

Yellow Warbler at Tonaquint Park in St George, UT

I had dinner with a birding friend, Eric Peterson, and two of his friends who flew in from Wisconsin to experience southwest birding. We had some good Mexican Food and shared some good birding and nature stories before heading to bed for the night.

We started our full day together at Lytle Ranch, a must-visit birding oasis in the middle of the desert near the Utah-Nevada border. We saw a number of birds, many of which were life birds for our Wisconsin friends, birds that they were seeing for the first time in their lives.

This is the best view and photo I've gotten thus far of a Bell's Vireo that was singing excitedly as we came upon it.

Bell's Vireo at Lytle Ranch Washington County, UT

Eric Peterson's eagle eye caught the presence of a male Costa's Hummingbird. I love their long purple gorget feathers. All of the feathers on the head, face and throat will shine a bright purple in the right lighting. These images give a hint of the bright coloring.

Costa's Hummingbird at Lytle Ranch in St George, UT

Costa's Hummingbird at Lytle Ranch Washington County, UT

Phainopepla at Lytle Ranch Washington County, UT

Lucy's Warblers were everywhere, but they were always dodging the camera and this was the best I could come away with. At least you can see the touch of head they have on the tops of their heads. Otherwise they are plain looking little warblers.

Lucy's Warbler at Lytle Ranch Washington County, UT

Yellow-breasted Chat at Lytle Ranch Washington County, UT

We birded along the eleven-mile road out of the remote ranch to the main highway (Hwy 91), picking up more life birds for our Wisconsin friends. We then drove about twenty minutes up to Gunlock Reservoir State Park.

Western Kingbird Minus its Tail--Near Gunlock Reservoir Washington County, UT

I think the White-tailed Antelope Squirrels are my favorite of the ground squirrels. That little white tail seems to be constantly at attention. I think their pattern and coloring are really cool.

White-tailed Antelope Squirrel Gunlock Reservoir State Park Gunlock, UT

I really need to spend more time photographing the plants of Utah. I love seeing bright flowers coming from prickly and arid circumstances.

Spring Blossom on a Hedgehog Cactus Growing on Rock Near Gunlock Reservoir State Park

When the heat started picking up in the lowland desert habitats we drove into the mountains near Zion National Park. We took Kolob Terrace Road up to Lava Point Campground. The temperature was about 25 degrees cooler in the mountains. We enjoyed the scenery and birds of several habitats such as pinyon-juniper, Ponderosa Pine, and Aspen at the higher elevations.

Red Rock Cliffs Along Kolob Terrace Road Washington County, UT

Looking Back While Ascending Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Along Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

We saw Lewis's Woodpeckers, but I didn't get photographs since I'd seen them a number of times before. Now I wish I had captured some, but I did capture a few decent images of a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers. There aren't too many places to see these woodpeckers in Utah, but spots along Kolob Terrace Road are pretty reliable for these funny-faced woodpeckers.

One of Two Acorn Woodpeckers Along Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

One of Two Acorn Woodpeckers Along Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

Spring Blossom of Prickly Pear Cactus Along Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

Virginia's Warbler Kolob Terrace Road Washington County, UT

White-breasted Nuthatch at Lava Point Campground Washington County, UT

Grace's Warbler is not very common, but they are a little more common at Lava Point Campground this time of year. I wish this one would have come into the light and closer. It is a beautiful warbler and this picture doesn't do it justice.

Grace's Warbler at Lava Point Campground in Washington County, UT

And the highlight of the trip was observing a Common Black-Hawk that is nowhere near being Common in Utah.

Common Black-Hawk in Washington County, UT