In general, living in Utah is like living in any other town.  Sure the people are friendlier than when I lived in California and New England, but I suspect people are generally friendlier in these middle states.  The only real way that you notice that it’s different here is that most things shut down on [...]

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Okay, I’m very bad at raptor IDs so please correct me if I’m wrong.  Back last March we were driving around Logan, UT when I saw some hawks in a tree.  I saw a bird that I believe is a  Red-Tailed Hawk. Then I heard screeching!  Here’s the other hawk: Now, I know without question [...]

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I added a new sparrow to my life list a few weeks ago!  This little sparrow poked his head in and out of little mounds of grass. Oh hello there, can I help you? I took picture after picture, hoping that I could get a good shot.  And then, as if sensing my frustration, the [...]

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Audrey is still molting.  Every year since 2003 every time Audrey molts a follicle on his back becomes irritated.  I know the year because I took him to a vet because I was so worried.  Audrey will work at it, shrieking the whole time.  When he starts working at his back, I know to give [...]

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The garden is productive!  I’ve harvested lost of squash and tomatoes.  Tonight I made a stir fry of summer squash, green pepper, black beans, corn and onions.  I also made tabbouleh with bulgur.  Super healthy food! I also used the squash to make a stir fry with feta, tomatoes and tempeh. Food tastes so much [...]

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Avocets have two types of plumage: breeding and non-breeding.  The non-breeding plumage is grey.  Here is an Avocet from last December in Palo Alto, CA. The breeding plumage has a brown head.  Below is a picture taken in Utah. I know I’m excited by his sexy brown head!  This picture also has a dragonfly, oooh. [...]

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This week I had to go to Silicon Valley for business.  Yay for California!  Yay for 75 degree weather!  I was only there for a day and my schedule was packed, but there is a park across from the car rental place in Oakland so I squeezed in 30 minutes of birding. By the time [...]

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Audrey is not a fan of vegetables.  He even turns his beak up at the grass that I grow for Trevor.  But Audrey does like crackers. That is the healthiest cracker that you will ever see.  It’s wheat, flour, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds.  I grabbed a bunch of packets from this deli [...]

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Today we headed out to the Strawberry Reservoir in the Uinta National Forest.  It’s a nice time to visit because the mountains look like this: The fields look like this: And this: The best part about Strawberry Reservoir?  Baby grebes!!! The parents were very watchful.  When they saw me they would alert the others by [...]

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I have seen three different species of grebes in Utah.  I’ve talked about the Eared Grebe before.  Today, I’ll talk about the Western and Clark’s Grebes.  They look extremely similar so you have to see the pictures side-by-side.  Focus on the area around the eyes.  Here is the Western Grebe: The Clark’s Grebe is below: [...]

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