Birds were scarce, but there were some good ones in Utah
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- October 26, 2017
- 992
For the last week we have been traveling through Central and Southern Utah, staying mainly in campgrounds at a variety of national parks and monuments. The weather was sunny, although nights got quite cold in some places. Birds were scarce, but there were some good ones.
After spending almost two weeks in Idaho, our trail led south toward Salt Lake City. The first night we camped at Antelope Island State Park. This huge island on the east side of the Great Salt Lake is connected to the mainland by a long causeway. The island itself is much as it was a century ago.
Along the causeway were thousands of America avocets, sanderlings, black-bellied plovers and gulls. Both California and ring-billed gulls were joined by flocks of ruddy ducks, northern shovelers and American wigeon. I was assured by a naturalist at the visitor’s center that only a few birds remained. There had been millions passing through the big lake over the last month including huge flocks of phalaropes, all of which were gone by the time we showed up.
Driving south through Utah brought us to the north entrance of Zion National Park. After a night at the Cedar City Wal-Mart, we drove to a trailhead for Taylor Creek. This 5-mile hike followed a stream into a deep canyon with sheer cliffs on both sides.
On the way in we saw lots of juncos, both mountain and black-capped chickadees, Steller’s jay, juniper titmouse, and northern flickers. I heard what sounded like a winter wren, and sure enough, there was a very dark, small wren working its way through the vegetation along the stream. In Southwestern Utah this bird is now called a Pacific wren, split from the winter wren not long ago.
I was pleased to see this good variety of birds, but the best was yet to come. Helen was leading the way and stopped suddenly, pointing out a very distant raptor that was high on the cliffs ahead of us. It didn’t look like the ravens that are common throughout Utah.
With the binoculars I could see it was a huge bird and not a hawk or eagle. Next, I focused the camera on the bird, realizing there were now two of them. I snapped three quick photos with the long telephoto lens and then looked at them on the screen: California condors. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of seeing a condor, although I knew they were regularly seen at the Grand Canyon.
Later I learned that a pair had successfully hatched and fledged a young condor somewhere in Zion National Park. The two condors soared around the tops of the canyon walls before disappearing. We didn’t see them again, but that moment will remain with me.
After leaving Zion, we spent a day at Bryce National Park, where the temperature was 15 F in the morning. Next our path led to Capital Reef National Park, where we spent three lovely days doing a lot more hiking in area canyons. Then it was on to Natural Bridges National Monument and finally several days at Canyonlands and Arches National Park.
The area around Moab, Utah, was completely full of people. There were no camping spots within 25 miles, so we did day hikes. I was especially impressed with Arches National Park, where we saw many beautiful natural arches.
In all of these parks there were few birds. Most daily lists were under 10 species, but the beauty of the canyons was amazing. Now it’s time to head back to Indiana.
Good birding.
Reach Bruce at birderbruce@yahoo.com or 330-317-7798.