Nevada - Idaho - Wyoming - Utah Trip ~ August 10, 2019

Thunderstorms greeted us for the first hour of the drive to Yellowstone. We entered the park at West Yellowstone, Montana and headed north towards Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming where a Peregrine Falcon flew over the road. From there, it was east to Tower Junction and down Route 212 to the Lamar Valley. Not too far down Route 212, we watched a Black Bear along the edge of the woods.

Black Bear

About 10 miles from Tower Junction, there was a pull-off full of vehicles. Many of them were wolf watchers. We set up our scopes and started scanning the valley with the others.

Lamar Valley

Jason was scanning in the southwest direction and spotted a Black Bear running up the hill. Soon after that, four Gray Wolves emerged from the sagebrush. Two of them seemed to be playing with each other and one was occasionally howling. A total of seven wolves were seen.

Very distant photos of Gray Wolves

Birds seen in the Lamar Valley included Great Blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, Northern Shoveler, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Violet-green, Tree, Cliff, and Barn Swallow, Common Raven, Brewer's Sparrow, and Brewer's Blackbird.

While there, someone told us that a Grizzly Bear was being seen in the Hayden Valley. So, after getting our fill of wolves for about an hour, we headed back to Tower Junction and took the Grand Loop Road towards Hayden Valley. We did a quick stop at "The Narrows", a deep gorge funneling the Yellowstone River through it. A Peregrine Falcon flew back and forth among the cliffs.

The Narrows

We got something to eat at Canyon Village and then continued south for six miles to the Hayden Valley, which held multiple herds of Bison.

Hayden Valley

When we came upon a large amount of parked cars and people, we figured the bear must still be there. And it was. It fed on a Bison carcass for a while, covered up what was left, and then walked over to the river to wash up.

Grizzly Bear with Canada Geese nearby for size comparison

Eventually, it walked over to the hillside, dug out a bed for itself, and laid down to take a nap.

Note the size of the foot and claws resting on its back.

We also got to see a few Elk in the park. Birds seen in the Hayden Valley included Great Blue Heron, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, Barrow's Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common Merganser, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Killdeer, Northern Rough-winged, Violet-green, and Bank Swallow, and Brewer's Blackbird.

Since we scored with all of the mammals, we decided to head around to the Upper Geyser Basin where we got to see Grand Geyser and Old Faithful do their thing. I talked Jason into hiking the trail up the hill to the overlook of Grand Prismatic Spring. When you're walking around it at eye level, you don't get the same perspective that you do from this vantage point.

Grand Prismatic Spring

A "Pink-sided" Junco was feeding along the trail on the way back to the car.

Additional birds seen while driving and at various stops in the park included Double-crested Cormorant, American Kestrel, Common Nighthawk, Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing, "Audubon's" Warbler, Western Tanager, and Chipping Sparrow.

We headed for the exit of the park at West Yellowstone, Montana on Route 191 where we got stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes. We thought there might be an accident, but it was just everyone blocking the road to get looks and photos of a Black Bear. Eventually, we made it out of the park and drove back to our Motel 6 in Rexburg, Idaho where we decided to sleep in for a change.

Videos of the geysers and more photos from Yellowstone National Park can be found at my Wyoming Adventures Photo Album.

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Nevada - Idaho - Wyoming - Utah Trip ~ August 11, 2019

Today's plan was to catch up on some much-needed sleep and then visit the Curlew National Grasslands in Idaho and Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah. We took Route 20 and I-15 down to Pocatello, turned onto I-86, and then took the Arbon Valley Highway south to the grasslands area.

Views from near the Curlew National Grasslands

Unfortunately, a dead Great Horned Owl was lying in the road on the way down the highway. Live birds seen in and around the grasslands included Red-tailed and Swainson's Hawk, American Kestrel, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Nighthawk, Gray Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Bank and Barn Swallow, Black-billed Magpie, Rock Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, Wilson's Warbler, Brewer's, Vesper, and Lark Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark. A Coyote was also seen along the highway but scurried off into the higher grass before I could get a photo.

More photos from the Idaho portion of the trip can be found at my Idaho Adventures Photo Album.

We continued south into Utah, got onto I-84 at the town of Snowville, and followed it down to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Rattlesnake Pass on I-84 in northern Utah

Over a thousand Bank Swallows lined the wires just past the visitor center, which was closed on Sundays.

Bank Swallows

The auto tour route was located about 12 miles west of the visitor center.

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Most of the refuge's pools were dry, but the ones that did have water were productive. A Western Grebe cooperated for photos as did American Avocet and California Gull.

Western Grebe

American Avocet

California Gull

Additional notable birds from a large list seen there included Eared Grebe, American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Green-winged, Blue-winged, and Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Virginia Rail, Sandhill Crane, Black-necked Stilt, Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring-billed Gull, Forster's Tern, Eastern and Western Kingbird, Marsh Wren, Savannah Sparrow, and Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbird. One of the Forster's Terns zipped by the car.

Forster's Tern

Back out onto I-84, we continued south to Ogden where we stayed at another Motel 6.

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Nevada - Idaho - Wyoming - Utah Trip ~ August 12-13, 2019

Monday, August 12, 2019

We had decided the night before that we would visit Little Cottonwood Canyon in the morning and Antelope Island State Park in the afternoon. The canyon entrance was near the town of Granite, southeast of Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, we found out that there was going to be a bike race starting at 11 AM at the Snowbird resort area, so we would have to be below there by that time. We parked near the top at the Alton-Brighton trailhead and walked up the Albion Basin Road. A Calliope Hummingbird was flycatching near the top of an evergreen. Surprisingly, my camera focused on the bird and I managed to get these photos.

Calliope Hummingbird

Other birds seen along there included Broad-tailed and Rufous Hummingbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, "Audubon's", Orange-crowned, and Wilson Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee, Lincoln's and Fox Sparrow, "Pink-sided" Junco, and Pine Siskin.

Near the bottom of the canyon along the Temple Quarry Trail, we found Black-capped Chickadee and Warbling Vireo.

After a quick stop at a Wendy's, we headed for the Antelope Island Causeway. It was tough to even try and estimate the huge numbers of Northern Shovelers, Eared Grebes, American Avocets, and Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes at this spot. All I can say is there were thousands of each. There were tens of thousands of Eared Grebes alone! There also had to be hundreds of Black-necked Stilts.

View from the Antelope Island Causeway

American Avocets filling the frame in just this small portion of the lake.

When we drove out on the causeway to the island, Wilson's Phalaropes were all over and only a few Red-necked Phalaropes were seen.

Wilson's Phalarope

On our way back out from the island, Red-necked Phalaropes highly outnumbered the Wilson's.

Red-necked Phalaropes

Other birds spotted along the causeway included American White Pelican, White-faced Ibis, Peregrine Falcon, Black-bellied Plover, Willet, Western Sandpiper, Ring-billed, California and Franklin's Gull, and a Long-billed Curlew.

Franklin's Gull

Long-billed Curlew

While Jason was scoping the north side of the causeway, he found a leucistic Franklin's Gull among the Eared Grebes and phalaropes.

Distant photo of a leucistic Franklin's Gull

We checked out the park's visitor center on the island and saw Lark Sparrows at the feeders.

View of the causeway from the visitor center

We stopped at a nearby pull-off where Burrowing Owls were possible, but it was the middle of the afternoon so there was no sight of them. We drove about halfway down Antelope Island Road towards the Fielding Garr Ranch.

Frary Peak on Antelope Island

Three Lazuli Buntings were spotted in a grassy depression near a small group of trees.

Lazuli Bunting

More photos from the Utah part of the trip can be found at my Utah Adventures Photo Album.

We left the island in the late afternoon, headed south towards the Salt Lake City Airport, and ate at another Golden Corral that was nearby. In the early evening, we drove to the airport, returned the car with 2,024 more miles on it, and boarded our non-stop flight just before midnight.

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Tuesday, August 13, 2019

We landed at Newark International Airport at around 6 AM and drove right to Green Pond in my county to see the Baird's Sandpiper that had been found there while we were away.

Baird's Sandpiper

We found everything we were looking for pretty easily. I saw two life birds and a subspecies of Spruce Grouse among the 147 species seen in addition to Gray Wolves and Grizzly Bear. Needless to say, it was a fantastic trip. Here is the species list for the trip with the state or states they were seen in.

Trip List

1) Canada Goose (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
2) Trumpeter Swan (Idaho, Wyoming)
3) Mallard (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
4) Gadwall (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
5) Green-winged Teal (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
6) American Wigeon (Idaho, Wyoming)
7) Northern Pintail (Idaho, Utah)
8) Northern Shoveler (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
9) Blue-winged Teal (Idaho, Utah)
10) Cinnamon Teal (Idaho, Utah)
11) Canvasback (Idaho)
12) Redhead (Idaho)
13) Ring-necked Duck (Idaho, Wyoming)
14) Barrow's Goldeneye (Wyoming)
15) Bufflehead (Wyoming)
16) Common Merganser (Idaho, Wyoming)
17) Hooded Merganser (Idaho)
18) Ruddy Duck (Idaho, Utah)
19) Ring-necked Pheasant (Utah)
20) Himalayan Snowcock** (Nevada)
21) "Franklin's" Spruce Grouse* (Idaho)
22) Eared Grebe (Idaho, Utah)
23) Western Grebe (Utah)
24) American White Pelican (Utah)
25) Double-crested Cormorant (Wyoming, Utah)
26) Great Blue Heron (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
27) White-faced Ibis (Idaho, Utah)
28) Turkey Vulture (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
29) Osprey (Idaho, Wyoming)
30) Northern Harrier (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
31) Sharp-shinned Hawk (Idaho)
32) Red-tailed Hawk (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
33) Swainson's Hawk (Nevada, Idaho)
34) American Kestrel (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
35) Prairie Falcon (Wyoming)
36) Peregrine Falcon (Wyoming, Utah)
37) Virginia Rail (Idaho, Utah)
38) Sora (Idaho)
39) American Coot (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
40) Sandhill Crane (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
41) Black-bellied Plover (Utah)
42) Killdeer (Idaho, Wyoming)
43) American Avocet (Utah)
44) Black-necked Stilt (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
45) Willet (Idaho, Utah)
46) Lesser Yellowlegs (Idaho)
47) Solitary Sandpiper (Idaho)
48) Spotted Sandpiper (Idaho, Utah)
49) Long-billed Curlew (Utah)
50) Western Sandpiper (Utah)
51) Least Sandpiper (Idaho)
52) Short-billed Dowitcher (Utah)
53) Wilson's Snipe (Idaho)
54) Wilson's Phalarope (Idaho, Utah)
55) Red-necked Phalarope (Utah)
56) Franklin's Gull (Idaho, Utah)
57) Ring-billed Gull (Utah)
58) California Gull (Idaho, Utah)
59) Forster's Tern (Utah)
60) Rock Pigeon (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
61) Mourning Dove (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
62) Eurasian Collared-Dove (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
63) Great Gray Owl (Idaho)
64) Common Nighthawk (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
65) Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
66) Calliope Hummingbird (Utah)
67) Rufous Hummingbird (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
68) Belted Kingfisher (Idaho)
69) Northern Flicker (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming)
70) Williamson's Sapsucker (Idaho)
71) Hairy Woodpecker (Idaho)
72) American Three-toed Woodpecker (Idaho)
73) Pileated Woodpecker (Idaho)
74) Olive-sided Flycatcher (Idaho, Utah)
75) Western Wood-Pewee (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
76) Willow Flycatcher (Idaho)
77) Hammond's Flycatcher (Idaho)
78) Gray Flycatcher (Idaho)
79) Dusky Flycatcher (Idaho)
80) Cordilleran Flycatcher (Nevada)
81) Say's Phoebe (Idaho)
82) Western Kingbird (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
83) Eastern Kingbird (Idaho, Utah)
84) Loggerhead Shrike (Idaho, Utah)
85) Warbling Vireo (Idaho, Utah)
86) Clark's Nutcracker (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming)
87) Black-billed Magpie (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming)
88) American Crow (Nevada, Idaho)
89) Common Raven (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
90) Horned Lark (Idaho)
91) Tree Swallow (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
92) Violet-green Swallow (Idaho, Wyoming)
93) Bank Swallow (Wyoming, Utah)
94) Cliff Swallow (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
95) Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Wyoming)
96) Barn Swallow (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
97) Black-capped Chickadee (Utah)
98) Mountain Chickadee (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
99) Red-breasted Nuthatch (Idaho, Utah)
100) House Wren (Nevada)
101) Rock Wren (Nevada, Utah)
102) Marsh Wren (Idaho, Utah)
103) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Idaho, Utah)
104) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Idaho)
105) Mountain Bluebird (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
106) Townsend's Solitaire (Nevada)
107) Hermit Thrush (Utah)
108) American Robin (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
109) Sage Thrasher (Idaho)
110) European Starling (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
111) Cedar Waxwing (Wyoming)
112) Orange-crowned Warbler (Utah)
113) Nashville Warbler (Idaho)
114) Yellow-rumped "Audubon's" Warbler (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
115) Townsend's Warbler (Idaho)
116) Yellow Warbler (Idaho)
117) MacGillivray's Warbler (Nevada)
118) Wilson's Warbler (Idaho, Utah)
119) Western Tanager (Idaho, Wyoming)
120) Green-tailed Towhee (Nevada, Utah)
121) Chipping Sparrow (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
122) Brewer's Sparrow (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming)
123) Lark Sparrow (Idaho, Utah)
124) Fox Sparrow (Utah)
125) Savannah Sparrow (Idaho, Utah)
126) Lincoln's Sparrow (Idaho, Utah)
127) Song Sparrow (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
128) Vesper Sparrow (Idaho)
129) White-crowned Sparrow (Nevada, Idaho)
130) Dark-eyed Junco ("Gray-headed" in Nevada, "Oregon" in Idaho, "Pink-sided" in Wyoming and Utah)
131) Black-headed Grosbeak (Idaho)
132) Lazuli Bunting (Idaho, Utah)
133) Western Meadowlark (Idaho, Utah)
134) Yellow-headed Blackbird (Idaho, Utah)
135) Red-winged Blackbird (Idaho, Utah)
136) Great-tailed Grackle (Nevada)
137) Brewer's Blackbird (Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah)
138) Brown-headed Cowbird (Utah)
139) Black Rosy-Finch (Nevada)
140) Cassin's Finch (Nevada, Idaho)
141) House Finch (Idaho, Utah)
142) Red Crossbill (Idaho)
143) Cassia Crossbill** (Idaho)
144) Pine Siskin (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)
145) American Goldfinch (Idaho)
146) Lesser Goldfinch (Nevada)
147) House Sparrow (Nevada, Idaho, Utah)

** denotes Life Bird.
* denotes U.S. and "Lower 48" Bird.

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Varied Thrush in Northampton County ~ March 3, 2019

Back on February 19th, Billy Weber pulled into a parking space where he works, looked at the top of a crabapple tree, and saw an adult male Varied Thrush! The bird's location was not released to the public because the location was in a private business complex. It was seen fairly regular, but generally only very early in the morning. When it left the spot, it almost always was seen flying to the east.

Saturday, it was found along one of the public streets to the east of there, which allowed it to finally be posted to the public. The location was in some crabapple trees at a business called "Newly Weds Foods", located along South Commerce Way, right at the eastern border of Hanover Township. The bird was found there again on Sunday morning. It was seen by several birders for about 15 minutes and then flew off a long way to the northeast. Most of the happy birders headed for New Jersey to see the Boreal Chickadee that's been there since February 23rd. I decided to drive around the area to see if I could find where it went.

As I drove down Brodhead Road, I noticed a large number of Robins on both sides of the road. Some were feeding in two good-sized crabapple trees in front of the Service Master building at the corner of Brodhead Road and South Rabold Circle. This spot is just inside Bethlehem Township. Since it was Sunday and the parking lot was empty, I pulled in there and checked out the area. Within about five minutes, I refound the thrush. I was able to use the building and the sign as a blind and get a lot of pretty good photos of the bird.

It also flew across Brodhead Road and landed on the ground under the pines.

As you can see, this is one cool-looking bird. Even the undertail coverts have an intricate pattern.

I also had a Hermit Thrush check out the one crabapple.

Just across the street, in the pines on the north side of Brodhead Road, I had several Purple Finches, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Brown Creeper. And yes, this photo has the correct orientation. The bird was completely upside-down when I took this.

I passed this additional location on to some of my friends and left there after watching it for well over an hour. To make it real easy to get to this second location, paste the following coordinates into Google Maps:
40.677744, -75.370455
I was told that it was again seen there later in the day, so these two spots seem to be the best bet to find it.

One VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Brodhead Road is a very busy road with lots a tractor-trailer traffic and employees heading to and from the businesses. DO NOT park along Brodhead Road! I saw a Bethlehem Township police car while there and explained to them why they might be seeing birders with binoculars and cameras walking the area. The cul-de-sac on South Rabold Circle has signs stating "No Stopping or Standing". I told the cops that parking might be a problem during the weekdays, especially with the signs posted everywhere. These two guys were nice and told me that they would be tolerable about parking on the side streets, but that might depend on who's in the car at the time, so do that at your own risk.

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March 6th Update:

I was able to get some more photos of the bird on Wednesday.

The bird was well camouflaged when it was under the pines.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was also at the spot.

Additional photos of the bird can be found in my 2019 Local Notables Album.

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