The leaves have been changing color in Salt Lake City.  It’s not as spectacular as New England, but I enjoy the yellows and oranges.  Last Saturday we had a serious rainstorm with wind that caused all the leaves to fall.  It looks very pretty! The poison oak in the back has also turned a lovely [...]

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Utah has three types of grouses: Dusky Grouse, Greater-Sage Grouse and the Ruffed Grouse.  This is the Ruffed Grouse. He has a crest!  As a result, I love him. I could be a Ruffed Grouse! They are called Ruffed Grouses because the males have black ruffs on their necks that puff up when they’re displaying. [...]

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Today marks the end of our Indian summer; today it snowed.  It has not yet reached freezing temperatures, though, so I’ve been harvesting the last of the garden vegetables. The hybrid tomatoes wound up getting some kind of rot so they didn’t produce the way I was hoping.  The other tomatoes were all holey because [...]

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In any large areas of grasslands and sagebrush in Utah, you will find a group of birds called Horned Larks.  It is a goal of mine to get some good pictures.  They’re very cool looking birds.  They’re called horned larks because their breeding plumage includes black feathers on their heads that look like horns.  I [...]

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About five weeks ago, I was in California for a business meeting.  So of course after I landed in Oakland I drove straight to the Palo Alto Baylands for some birding.  I’m driving along Bayshore Rd. and I see this group of people milling around.  Why are they milling around, you ask?  They are staring [...]

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There are a lot of eagles on Deseret Ranch.  They like to hide on the rock formations and within the spaces between hills. So keep your eyes peeled because he might be on any branch: I’m really proud of this shot: Before this, my closest pictures were very far away.  They are such amazing birds. [...]

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Deseret Ranch makes its money from three sources: (1) ranching; (2) licenses for birders; and (3) hunting permits.  The hunters shoot antelope and mule deer.  Here is an antelope: Deseret Ranch has a lodge where the hunters stay.  We had lunch there. After they kill the animals, they leave the skulls out to rot. This [...]

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Audrey is the most beloved cockatiel in the house.  If you pick him up, the others will yell.  If you leave the room with Audrey, the others will fly after him.  But this gets very tiring for Audrey.  He frequently wants to be put inside his cage just so he can be left alone.  So [...]

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Later in the day, we hit the tops of the mountains.  You should enjoy the green hills, because they will quickly become slate grey.  In fact, just today I was hiking up in Cottonwood Canyon and I encountered snow! To find grouse, it’s best to look in the sage or in the forest.  You can [...]

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Last weekend we spent two days birding Deseret Ranch with Bill Fenimore (who gives tours if you’re interested).  We spent the first day with another birder who asked us why we chose to bird a place that we were just at last May.  Well, with 220,000 acres, there was still a lot to see. There’s [...]

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