American Flicker

I started in my favorite part in Heber, UT.  This is where I saw my first Sandhill Crane and moose.  This time I saw an American Flicker and a Scrub Jay.

Even though Salt Lake City was completely dry, Heber is at a higher elevation and therefore had a lot of snow left.

Next we moved on to another section of the Provo River Valley.  Now, this section of Heber has tons of birds in the summer.  It’s teeming with waxwings, warblers, osprey, robins and more!  This time was less busy.  I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk.

And Black-Billed Magpies.  Although those are present everywhere in Utah.

Heber being a bust, Jon suggested that we cover the Jordanelle Reservoir and the Rockport Reservoir on the way home.  The east side of the Jordanelle Reservoir had the most activity.  At first I was getting excited over mallards but then I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle!

This is probably a third-year Bald Eagle.  The head doesn’t start to turn white until the third year and by the fourth year the head is closer to being completely white.  There were also deer.

I also saw dippers but I want to save those pictures because they deserve a separate post.  Next we stopped at the Rockport State Park, which was very very cold.

I was determined to get to the part of the reservoir that had ducks and geese.  Of course the picture below is as close as I got because ducks won’t let you get very close before they fly away.

At this point I turned around and realized how long I had been walking.

Do you see the jeep in that picture?  Hmm, let me clip a little bit of the picture.

So I got a good amount of exercise, managed to trip and hurt my foot (it’s okay now) and have sworn that I won’t walk in snow over a foot deep for extended periods of time again.  I can’t wait for Spring!

Wait, are you thinking “Oh no, not another Bald Eagle post”?  Well, let me show you some of the other things I’ve seen in the past few months.

Oh right, there aren’t many birds around Utah in the winter.  Besides, you’re missing some amazing pictures if you pretend to be bored with eagles.

These pictures are from today.  I’ve never seen the area so full of people.  Birders…we are everywhere.  And it was such a nice day: in the 50′s with no inversion.  Look at this gorgeous path.

The temperature has only been warm for the past two days so there was still ice where the eagles were sitting.

Then one took off!

and flew overhead.

In total I saw about 10 eagles.  Next month there is a day when thousands of Snow Geese take flight.  I think one major event a month is enough to sustain me until summer.

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.

And they really do look majestic in flight.

Look at his talons!

The temperature was about 20 degrees warmer than the last time, which caused much of the ice to melt.

Every year in February they poison the carp, which causes a massive amount of eagles to gather and hunt for fish.  At one point I counted 11 Bald Eagles on the ice.  Those black spots are eagles.

I was never able to get closer than maybe 150-200 feet, but for my first Bald Eagle experience this was very exciting.

Utah has the largest number of Bald Eagles in the winter other than Alaska.  I’d like to go back and try to find some more before they migrate.  They’re such noble looking birds.

There was supposedly a place where hundreds of eagles gathered, but it was a two mile hike to get to this speculative location.  Maybe next year.