Hi Tweets,

we went south and here is what I saw. Just a note to remind you all I am a beginner and we did not bird everywhere or for very long when I got the chance. Plus I could not identify many of the birds that I saw. the birds in bold are life birds for me.

Sept 11, home: Barred Owl!
Sept 12, home while loading the Van: Barn Owl!
Sept 13, on the road, Brewers Black bird in Oregon parking lot
Sept 14, Steen Mt, so many Redtails most are in Light Morph we guess at maybe 30 plus birds, and one Northern Harrier Juv. Big Horned Sheep,

Malheur NWR: Turkey Vultures, Northern Harriers, Caspian Terns, Sandhill Cranes, Cattle Egret, White Pelicans, Pied-billed Gredes, Red Tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Sharp Shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Peregrine Falcon, California Quail with chicks, Rock Doves, Mourning Doves, Vaux's Swifts, Northern Flicker, Crows, Magpies Violet Green Swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, Robins, Townsend Solitaire, Starling, White-crowned Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Prong Horn Antelope, Mule Deer, coyote, Black-tailed Jack Rabbit, Nuttall's cottontail, ground squirrels of some kind.

Sept 16, Hawk Watch at the Goshutes Mt, Nevada
we climb 2.5 miles and 1800 elevation to end at 9800 feet high!
on the way up the hill: Western Tanager, Clark's Nutcrackers, Cassin's Finch, Red Breasted Nuthatches, Chukar, Merlin, Bobcat, Wild horses,
At the top: Northern Goshawks, Cooper's Hawks, Kestrels, Sharp Shinned Hawks, Golden Eagle, Redtails, Osprey, Ravens. Rich and I got to release some of the banded Raptors, it was an amazing experience and we will never forget it. I encourage everyone to get up that hill!!

Sept 19 - Zion NP
flock of Bushtits, Great Blue Heron, Mt Chickadees, Cliff swallows, Kingfisher? (moving to fast to see clearly) lots of Lizards, and Rock Squirrels

Sept 20 - St George, UT -
Yellow Headed Blackbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Kingbird, Gnat catcher of some kind

Tonquin Park Nature Center
Gold Finch, Albert's Towhee, Black Phoebe, Phainopepla, Great Blue Heron, Northern Flickers, Sage Thrasher, Purple finches. Rock Squirrel, and more lizards.

on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon over the Vermillion Cliffs we spotted a California Condor!

Sept 22 - North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Juv Northern Goshawk, Cooper's Hawk, Kestrels, Turkey Vultures, large flock of Clark's Nutcrackers, 4 Turkeys, Western Bluebirds, Red Breasted Nuthatchs, Ravens,Mule deer.

Sept 23 and 24 - South Rim of the Grand Canyon
2 California Condors and the Condor Chick, hatched in the wild! We got to talk to a young man with the Condor Telemetry he works for the Peregrine fund. Western Blue Birds, Pygmy Nuthatch at my feet! Kestrels, Peregrine, Redtails, Cooper's Hawks, Ravens, Turkey Vultures.

At Lipon Point another Hawk Watch group counting Raptors,
2 Redtails, 2 Cooper's, 2 Sharpies, and TWO Swainson Hawks!!

the rest of the trip is more of the same with the exception of:

Moab Ut on the Colorado River:
flock of Pinyon Jays, lots of little brown bats, Northern Pygmy Owl standing in the road!!

Bear River NMR - Horned Lark, Ruddy Duck, American Avocets, White Pelicans, Sandhill Cranes, etc.. and lots of huge carp.

the two birds I was hoping to see but did not were Road Runner and humming birds of any type. Next time!

Dawn Bailey
Eatonville, WA
mailto:dawnsdog at rainierconnect.com

Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by.

~~Carl Sandburg