Egrets, Herons and more in Greeley Colorado

I took a trip with my parents to Colorado to visit my brother and his family, they took me to a park in Greeley that felt more like I was in Florida somewhere. There was a pond in the park with an island in the middle that had a large Egret and Heron Rookery. here are some pictures of the rookery and a few others from my visit.

Cattle Egrets, a Snowy Egret and nesting Black-crowned Night Herons

My first viewing of snowy egrets in a tree

Snowy and Cattle Egrets

Black-crowned Night heron on its nest

Black-crowned Night Heron

Here are a few more pictures of the trip

A family of Prairie Dogs, there was a whole colony of them just a block from by brothers house.

Eurasian Collared Dove, their neighborhood was teaming with Mourning Doves, Collared Doves, and Common Grackles. I was not able to get a picture of the Grackles with my camera because my battery ran out and I forgot my charger. I did get some with my dads camera but I haven't seen them yet.

Ground Squirrel 

Sphinx Moths

Being in the right place at the right time

Cattle Egret

There are a several birds that I see quite often but just never seem to be in the right place at the right time to photograph them, the Cattle Egret is one of them. Usually when I see them they are so far out in a pasture behind a fence I can't get a good shot of them.

For the past week on my way home from work I have seen one in a pasture just off the 5th South Exit of the Legacy Highway, but haven't had my camera with me and got to busy to come back down after getting home. I had to go in to work this morning for a few hours and sure enough on my way home there it was so I hurried home, got my camera and went back down to the Legacy Parkway.

Not only was it still there but several others had joined it along with a couple of Snowy Egrets and a White-face Ibis.

Snowy Egret

White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egret

Snowy Egret and Cattle Egret

Getting a 1st photo of a bird is almost as exciting as seeing a new life bird.

In addition to the Egrets and Ibis there were Western Kingbirds displaying in the air over the pasture but unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures.

May 2012 Bird of the Month Western Meadowlark

The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post.  Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, 


One of the very first birds I remember from my childhood is the Western Meadowlark. I remember walking out our back door and hearing the Meadowlarks singing in the vacant lots surrounding our home on the Centerville Bench. I learned how to whistle their song and would carry on conversations with them, I would whistle and they would answer and still do.


I remember as a young scout going out to Antelope Island for scout camps and amazed at the numbers of Meadowlarks singing in the grass and sagebrush. They are still abundant on Antelope Island and at Farmington Bay, but because of the growth and development on the Centerville Bench where I grew up they are hard to find now.

One of my favorite birds, I love pointing them out to people during tours at Farmington Bay. Everyone has heard them but I am surprised at the number of people who don't know what they look like. Perhaps it is because they look so different when you see them from different angles. From the front they are bright yellow with yellow eyebrows, a black collar around their neck and breast. From the back they are streaked drab brown and gray. They also spend a lot of time on the ground making them difficult to see in the grass and shrubbery. 

Like other members of the blackbird family, meadowlarks use a feeding behavior called “gaping,” which relies on the unusually strong muscles that open their bill. They insert their bill into the soil, bark or other substrate, then force it open to create a hole. This gives meadowlarks access to insects and other food items that most birds can’t reach.

The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. Only the Northern Cardinal is a more popular civic symbol, edging out the meadowlark by one state.

April 2012 Bird of the Month Spotted Towhee

About 15 years ago when I started keeping my life list the Spotted Towhee was the Rufous- sided Towhee and included the Eastern species which is now Eastern Towhee and the Western Species which the Spotted Towhee. The two forms still occur together in the Great Plains, where they sometimes interbreed.

My first sighting of the Spotted Towhee was in West Centerville on a dirt road where the Legacy Highway is now. They are quite common on the East Bench of the Wasatch Front in the Scrub Oak and I have seen them in riparian areas at Farmington Bay.

The Western Spotted Towhee has spotted and striped wings and back, the Eastern Towhee lacks these markings it's back is black. 

They often flash the white on their tails. Spotted Towhees are quite entertaining to watch as they scratch in the leaf litter foraging for food. 

During Spring males sit in the top of the Scrub Oak and sing their distinct Towhee song declaring their territory.

Spotted Towhees are frequent visitors to my back yard.

A handsome bird with a melodious call always a good find when birding the Spotted Towhee is my pick for Bird of the Month for April

A Towhee with some Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos

Some Time for Birding

It seems like it is getting more difficult to get time to go Birding. I did a Cub Scout workshop yesterday so I took off work a couple hours early so I could get some birding in first.

The Great Egret that has been hanging around this winter is still there

Here is a list of the birds I saw yesterday at Farmington Bay:
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Herons are nesting now.

Northern Flicker
Gadwall
Bufflehead
Mallard
Pintail
White-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow
Killdeer
American Avocet
Red-wing Blackbird

American Robin
Marsh Wren
American White Pelican
American Kestrel

Canada Goose

Northern Shoveler

Cinnamon Teal
Green-wing Teal
American Coot
Eurasian Collared Dove
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-tail Hawk
Northern Harrier
Sandhill Crane
European Starling
Black-billed Magpie
California Gull
American Wigeon

This Morning I took a drive up to Ogden and Bues pond to see the Mandarine Duck that was reported. Though Mandarine Ducks cannot be counted because they are not established in Utah and are most assuredly result of escaped pets they are becoming more common. I did see it but unfortunately he wasn't in the mood to have his picture taken, and I was unable to get closer that about 75 yards. He is hanging out with the Wood Ducks and even seemed have a female companion.
Birds seen at Bues pond were:
Mallard
Gadwall
Wood Duck
Mandarine Duck
Belted Kingfisher
House Finch
Black-capped Chickadee
It was good to get out and I will make a point over the next couple of months to get out more often.

2011 Birds of the Month

January 2011 Northern Harrier

Several years ago I took a road trip to Illinois with my family, at a rest stop in Nebraska there was a stuffed Black-crowned Night Heron mounted in a glass case. I was admiring it when the lady in the small gift shop said "oh you like our bird". I told her yes and that we have many Black-crowned Night Herons where I live. She asked where I come from, I told her Northern Utah and that I was a volunteer naturalist at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. She was amazed that we had shore birds in Utah. She said she thought Utah was just a big desert void of life. 

One of the reasons I do this spotlight each month and select a Bird of the Month to spotlight is to show the great diversity of birds that live here in Utah especially around the Great Salt Lake. The Great Salt Lake is such an important area for migrating and nesting birds that it is a Western Hemisphere preserve. I love Utah, the Great Salt Lake and Farmington Bay which has been my playground since I was a child. I hope those of you who visit my blog enjoy the birds and the place.

February 2011 Sharp-shinned Hawk

March 2011 Short-eared Owl 

April 2011 Barn Owl

May 2011 American Robin

June 2011 Willet

July 2011 Brown-headed Cowbird

August 2011 Eastern Kingbird

September 2011 Yellow-rumped Warbler

October 2011 Horned Lark

November 2011 Hermit Thrush

December 2011 Redhead Duck

March 2012 Bird of the Month Great Horned Owl

Years before I got my camera I drew pictures of the birds I ID'd to keep my life list. I drew this picture to document my first sighting of a Great Horned Owl during a Scout training camp near Tooele Utah in 1996

The great horned owl is the most common owl of the Americas, easily recognizable because of the feather tufts on its head. These tufts resemble horns.

Great horned owls are adaptable birds and live from the Arctic to South America. 

They are at home in suburbia as well as in woods and farmlands. Northern populations migrate in winter, but most live permanently in more temperate climes.

Nesting season is in January or February when the males and females hoot to each other. When close they bow to each other, with drooped wings. Mutual bill rubbing and preening also occurs. They do not build a nest of their own but utilise the nests of other birds such as the hawk, crow and heron. They may also use squirrel nests, hollows in trees, rocky caves, clumps of witches broom, abandoned buildings, or on artificial platforms.  They are extremely aggressive when defending the nest and will continue to attack until the intruder is killed or driven off. Normally, two to four eggs are laid and incubated by the female only for 26-35 days.

I took this picture of this youngster last spring  at the Fielding Garr Ranch on Antelope Island

This picture is of it's very attentive mother sitting just a few branches above the baby and keeping a close eye on it and a close eye on anyone who came close.

Great Horned Owls eat a broad diet of animals, from small mammals to rabbits, geese, and herons. Some birds, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates, but mostly mammals.The Great Horned Owl will take large prey, even other raptorial birds. It regularly kills and eats other owls, and is an important predator on nestling Ospreys. A couple of years ago the people out at Garr Ranch said that the Great Horned Owls killed and ate the Long-eared Owls that were nesting there. The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks.

I often find Owl Pellets around trees and on the deck of the Nature Center at Farmington Bay

Pellets are very large, about  7.6 to 10.2 cm (3- 4") long and 3.8 cm (1.5") thick. Pellets are dark greyish-black and compact. Skulls as wide as 3 cm (1.2") are regurgitated whole. Pellets are regurgitated 6 to 10 hours after eating.

Great Horned Owls are nocturnal and become active about dusk. I have seen them flying over my neighborhood in Woods Cross Utah and have observed them at Farmington Bay at dusk many times. I see them regularly at the ranch at Antelope Island sleeping. When I walk by they will usually partially open one eye and watch me very carefully.

A truly magnificent Bird the Great Horned Owl in My choice for Bird of the Month for March 2012