Last day of GSL Bird Festival

Bummer the picture is blurry, I've got a problem taking pictures while on a horse. Still you can see the coyote looking at us on the far edge of the shadow of the tree.

Last but certainly not least fun was our "Birds & Spurs" bird tour. Sunday morning 8:00 a.m. at the ranch on Antelope Island. Good thing we always try to be early for things. We made it just on time because of our, okay my desire to look at birds. We saw more birds going in to the ranch than we saw on the tour. That just doesn't matter though. We got to spend two hours riding around the environs on horses.

I signed up for this even back at the beginning of April. I hadn't been on a horse in ages. So for the subsequent 6 weeks I did strength training 4 days a week and rode horses a couple of times with the outdoors program. It worked! I was able to 1: Get on the horse. 2: Ride the horse without pain for 2 hours. 3: Dismount the horse with a modicum of grace. 4: Walk away from the horse without acting like a cripple. 5: Be able to walk the next day. I was very happy to have achieved all of those goals.

Our bird list included:
Ring-necked pheasant, California quail, Chuckar
Red-winged, Yellow-headed, and Brewers blackbirds
Magpies, Robins, Ravens
Horned larks, various unidentifiable warblers and flycatchers
Grasshopper sparrows, White-crowned sparrows, House sparrows, House finches
Cliff and Barn swallows
Wilson's snipe, Willets
Burrowing owl!!!

And then we also saw Mega-fauna
Pronghorn
Bison
Mule deer
Coyotes
and the skeleton of a bighorn sheep

Twas very, very cool and I hope to go again next year!

Birds of Prey workshop at GSL Bird Festival

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

Raptor Notes

Raptor Identification by Ben Woodruff, SkyMasters
"This program is geared towards serious bird watching enthusiasts. Ben will share many non-traditional and little known identification tips. Live raptors will be displayed in this program as well as digitally displayed images."

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When identifying raptors take the time to ask yourself these questions:
What is the bird doing?
Where is the bird?
These can help you figure out what the bird might be.

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Falcons are like bricks the weight of 5 large raptors are compressed into this little raptor making them super dense and heavy. The exception is the Kestrel.

Falcons DO NOT glide. They zoom to their destination without a pause in the wing beat or a dip in the flight plan. Unstoppable cruising speed that they use to catch other birds for dinner

Falcons have long skinny wings.

Kestrel v Merlin
When sitting they have different silhouettes. The Kestrel nips in at the rump and then out for the tail. The Merlin does not.

Peregrines have stumpy tails

Prairie falcons are less tolerant of humans. They LOVE larks and are found in the prairie hunting them. Particularly abundant on the salt flats desert.

The Gyrfalcon has a longer wing and can be found in the Bear River area in Feb & March

Prairie falcons are darker underneath. They like to sit on the second rung down on the telephone poles (to help hide from larger raptors). They will lean next to the post or "hug" the post in order to hide.

If it is a falcon in the city it is a peregrine.

When hunting other birds the peregrine will strike, circle up and strike again.

When hunting other birds the Prairie falcon will hit just as it is coming up under its circle.

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Hawks or Buteos have long broad wings. They are the "soaring hawks"

Buteos don't worry about eagles eating them so there is no hiding near fence posts.

They have very broad shoulders and glide, there is an up and down motion in flight. In Utah Swainson's are the summer hawk, Red Tails and Ferriginous (the prairie eagle) the spring and fall, and Rough legged in the winter.

Ferriginous hawks have tiny feet and hunt on the ground.

Harris hawks are pack birds

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Accipters are forest hawks. They are high strung and aggressive.

Goshawks are not found in town

Coopers & Sharp shinned can be spotted in neighborhood trees.

Coopers have a white tip on their tail that is noticeable.

Sharp-shinned do have a white tip, but it is not noticeable.

Accipters have shorter wings compared to their height, and they love water.

Accipters have big deep rowing wing beats (pigeon like). They will flap 3-4 times then soar. Look for them in canyons hunting for ground squirrels.

Goshawks nest in areas with Fir and Aspen. their nests of sticks are right next to the trunk of the tree.

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A Harrier is hawk size but really light, it hunts by coursing out over fields.

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Great horned, burrowing, barn and short-eared owls can be spotted in the daytime.

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Golden eagles are aggressive, they pull their heads in close to their body to take off and have a longish tail.

Bald eagles are more social and tend to have "poofy" heads. They keep their heads down to take off and have a shorter tail.

This was a fascinating lecture and one I will remember for always. If you have a chance to attend one of their lectures, GO!

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Great Salt Lake Bird Festival May 15-17

Ah, the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival that was something else! I began Friday by driving up to BYU Idaho. I was the closing speaker for their Library Week festivities. I was able to take 1.5 hours for my Notes from a Wandering Librarian and that was a relief. I'm normally talking so fast it's a little obnoxious. It was interesting to visit the old Ricks campus, so familiar and yet so foreign now. The library used to take one wing of the building with administration in the other wing. Now the library occupies both wings. Lunch with librarians and then back to Pocatello to repack for my next trip.

On the drive down to Farmington on Friday evening I called Krista and sure enough she and Terrial were available for dinner. We met up at Applebees and had a great visit. It seems impromptu works well for both of us. We stayed at a nearby Day's Inn. It was important to drive down Friday cause I had signed us up for a 7:00 a.m. bird tour.

The tour "Glover Ponds at Sunrise" was very fascinating, not just for the birds, but for the birders. I'm so used to going with family and being silly that the seriousness of the group was a bit intimidating. I am not going to let that put me off. Next year I'm going again, only maybe I'll wear clown shoes and a nose. They seemed so afraid of getting it wrong. Pity.

We saw lots of bird species and many, many, adorable chicks (as in baby birds).

Western kingbirds, Yellow-rumped warblers, Marsh wrens

Brewers, Red-winged, and Yellow-headed blackbirds

Great blue herons, Snowy egrets, American avocets +chicks, Black-necked stilts, Kildeer, Snowy plovers, White-faced ibises, Sandhill cranes +chicks, Double-crested cormorants

Pied billed grebes, Western grebes

Canada geese, Northern shovelers, Redheads, Cinnamon teals, Ruddy ducks, Gadwalls, Mallards, Coots

Forsters terns

Tree, Barn, Cliff and Bank swallows

Red-tailed hawks

Ravens, Crows, Magpies, Starlings

The program advertised the Glover Ponds tour as:
"These ponds bring YOU into nature, with an enriching experience, as you come in contact with this marsh habitat. The Nature Center deck and surrounding wetlands at the edge of Great Salt Lake, enhances your opportunity for close-up observation. A nearby Great Blue Heron rookery will be active and Avocets will be building nests. Other possible species include: Cinnamon Teal, four species of grebes, Snowy Egrets, Ruddy Ducks, American Pelicans, plus other shorebirds, and other wildlife."

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I attended a couple of workshops on Saturday. (Including the Raptor one).

The "Nature Photography" class was interesting and I learned a lot of basics on how to take better pictures.

The "Ruling by Obfuscation: Tyrant Flycatchers of Utah" was great and I have a marvelous cheat sheet that I need to make copies of and affix to my bird books. I'm not sure if I am more confused or less confused but I'm sure I learned something. The blurb for the workshop was marvelous:

"Are you confused about flycatchers? Losing sleep over the Empidonax group? Do you lash out at family and friends when they bring up lower mandible coloration? You should consider an experimental new treatment: Flycatcher Stress Reduction Therapy. The treatment is free and you can be seen on a walk-in basis. So don’t let flycatcher confusion rule your life any longer. Come and learn the truth about flycatcher identification. Plumage characteristics are not always enough, but you can use other distinguishing features like song, habitat, and even behavior to help surmount your fear of misidentification. You can go from “Oh no, it’s a flycatcher, let’s go the other way” to ”OH LOOK! It’s a flycatcher, let’s figure out which
one!”

I got a little turned around on our way back to the festival after lunch. This meant we wandered into a neighborhood with a fantastic yard sale. We've now officially replaced our ice cream maker with one that seems much more sturdy.

There were a lot of activities geared for kids at the festival and the workshops were all free. I'd highly recommend this as an activity for families!

Salt Lake City

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

I went to Salt Lake City Feb 28 - Mar 1 with friends to shop and hang out. Luckily I was able to rendez-vous with my family and get Shanna. The next weekend (see Birding entry on March 7) I went to SLC to go birding with Melinda and pick up some stuff from Rebecca's storage unit.

I had previously planned on going to the Ogden Rock show with my friend John on Friday March 13th. So for the third week in a row I headed out for Utah. Shanna went with us and we had a great time. I only realized that neither of them knew how to drive a stick shift after we had been driving for an hour or so...

By now, Mom and Melinda had driven back to Dallas because they didn't want to get snowed in here and weren't feeling well. So this is the second week of having Shanna which was great. We decided to pay her to paint our living room moldings and the hall. Anyway we're driving back from Ogden and I get a call from the family telling me they have a plane ticket for Shanna. Bet you can't guess when... Eyup, they had planned it for the very next day, March 14th. Well, neither Shanna nor I were ready to be parted just yet. (AND the painting wasn't finished). So we asked them to check into a delay. *PHEW* they were able to delay the flight for another week.

Nick and I were able to take Shanna to the airport on March 23rd (during spring break). It was a bummer to see her go, and I thought I'd be done with this driving to Utah stuff but no.

So to recap that's the 4 trips to SLC between Mar 1 and Mar 23.

Then April came along. I went to SLC on the 11th for Jessica's Baby Shower (see other entry), and again on April 22-25 for the Utah Library Association meeting. Conveniently Jessica gave birth to Rachel just before I went down there so I got to see mom, dad, and baby in the hospital. Must say that Rachel is truly adorable.

Recap again, we're now at 6 trips to SLC between Mar 1 and April 25.

Then came May. I thought things would slow down, instead it went in two directions. First north to the Idaho Library Association Regional Meeting in Moscow ID (10 hr drive) on May 7-9 then BACK to Utah for the GSA conference with Nick May 11-13, home for a day of work then North to Rexburg to speak at BYU Idaho's library week event. Of course, the pull of Utah cannot be denied so back we went for the Bird Festival May 15-17.

I believe this makes 4 more trips, 2 of them to Utah for a total of 8 trips to Utah, plus 2 trips North between Mar 1 and May 17th.

I like to travel, really I do. But this was a tad ridiculous.

Jenny
who was very happy to sleep in over Memorial day weekend and NOT go anywhere.

Memorial Day Weekend

Nick & I went with Duo & Heather to three gardening classes in Idaho Falls at the Town and Country Gardens Greenhouse: http://www.tcgardens.com/seminars.cfm
February 7, 10:00 a.m. Pruning and Tree Care
February 21, 10:00 a.m. Square Foot Gardening
March 21, 10:00 a.m. Fruit Trees
It was a lot of fun and good learning. We (or rather Nick) put the Pruning and Tree Care to good use over the Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully the little honey locust trees in front of the house will be able to straighten up. I'd hate to have to remove them because they didn't have parents training them to grow upright. ...

I spent one day weeding off and on as the rain permitted. It was really easy to pull those pesky weeds because the ground was so soft. However, I didn't want to crawl around on the ground so I did lots of lunges and squats and bending over. I am so much more sore from the gardening than I was from the horseback riding. OWWWWIEE!

Still with any luck we'll be able to put all the herbs and other veggies in the ground this weekend.

Horseback riding

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

I grew up on horses. I love them. One of my fondest memories is of the two weeks I got to spend on Sandy, my Welsh pony. The Jr. High burned down so I had two whole weeks with siblings still in school and the freedom of my little palomino. While birding with the Salt Lake Audubon group I discovered a thing called Bird Festivals.

Who knew that such a thing existed. I was so excited I came home and signed us up for a couple of outings. One of which was titled Birds and Spurs. Birding on horseback, sounded delightful! After paying for all of it I realized that I might not actually be in good enough shape to endure the experience. After all, I hadn't been on a horse in at least 15 years.

I talked it over with Nick and we signed up to go to the ISU outdoors program sponsored horseback riding practice. I am so glad we did. I am not the athletic girl I once was. We were able to attend two of these sessions before going out to the Birdfest. During these sessions I rediscovered my ability to boss a horse around. To not be intimidated by the lovely creatures and eventually, with the aid of a mounting block be able to get on with at least a modicum of grace.

Now I am looking forward to more riding sessions with the outdoors program. Who knows, maybe horses really are back in my life.

I'd love that.

Jenny

Scooter

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

As many of you know, this is Scooter my traveling bear companion. Years ago I saw him in a bin in a store in West Yellowstone. He was adorable and I wanted him, but was feeling too cheap so I didn't get him. As I continued to shop, my sneaky husband scooped him up and bought him. I discovered him on my pillow at the cabin we stayed in that night. Since then this little bear has gone all kinds of places with me. I just wish I had more pictures of him on his travels. Here he is on US-95. We're on our way to Moscow ID. -- Jenny

GSA May 10-13

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

Geological Society of America: GSA, Conference Location: Orem Utah, Special Speaker: Nick Semenza.

I got home on Saturday from my trip ILA North trip. Sunday we had a graduation lunch with friends at our house. Because of all of the traveling I've had to do recently, I wasn't looking forward to taking off on Sunday evening to head for the GSA conference. Nor had we made arrangements for our dog for Sunday evening. See, we had thought to drive down on Monday. It wasn't till Saturday evening when we realized that the conference actually started at 8:00 a.m. on Monday. We decided to take two cars down. This way I could sleep and sleep and sleep and drive down in time to hear Nick speak. And he could leave Sunday and be there first thing in the morning. It's probably too late to try and make this story any shorter so ...

Sunday after lunch Nick gathered stuff up, packed, and headed out while I sat and talked with our friends. They left early and I did a wonderful bunch of nothing. I did get to Orem in time to find Nick (who was all decked out in a suit looking very professional) and go to his session. He did such a great job, everyone loved it. He spoke about using historical records and geoscience/mapping to find lost springs.

The first evening we went out to dinner at the Brazillian Grill "Tucanos" near the mouth of Provo Canyon. Annie met us there and we gorged on the all you can eat grilled food. I am in LOVE with grilled pineapple.

I went birding while he attended GSA for the next couple of days. First I visited the South end of Utah lake. Here I found:

Western meadowlarks
Yellow-headed, and Red-winged blackbirds, Brown-headed cowbirds

House sparrows, Robins, Mourning doves, Western kingbirds, Magpies,

Tree, Bank, and Barn swallows

Canada geese, Redheads, Coots, Mallards, Western grebes, Pied-billed grebes, White-faced Ibises, American-white pelicans, American wigeons, Cinnamon teals, kildeer, Double-crested cormorants, Cattle egret

American goldfinches, Western tanagers, Yellow-rumbed warblers

Turkey vultures

The second evening we were looking for much lighter fare and discovered a relatively new place that served great salads, sandwiches and tea. A lovely change to the heavy Brazillian fare. After dinner we drove out Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. I thought Nick should see the amazing rocks and mountains of the canyon. It is too bad night fell so swiftly.

We had to check out on Wednesday so I headed north for a leisurely drive home with more birding while Nick attended more conference sessions. I stopped at Willard State Park, Brigham City, Honeyville, and the Bear River Refuge. The Refuge is STUPENDOUS! I saw so many birds...

Tree, Violet-green, Cliff, Bank, and Barn swallows

Great-tailed grackle, Robins, Magpies, House sparrows, Crows, Ravens, Starlings, Rock doves

Bullocks oriole, Western kingbirds, Western meadowlark, Horned lark, Marsh wrens

Kildeer, White-faced ibises, Cattle egret, Long-billed curlew, American avocets, Willets, Black-neck stilt, Snowy egrets, American-white pelcians, Wilson's phaleropes, Western grebes, Clarks grebes, Canada geese, Great-blue herons, Double-crested comorant

Mallards, Coots, American wigeons, Cinnamon teals, Redhead, Ruddy duck, Northern shovelers, Gadwalls, Northern pintail

Kestrel, Red-tailed hawk

Yellow-headed, Red-winged, and Brewers blackbird

Bonaparte's gulls, Forsters Terns

The best part was driving out of the Refuge. I was driving along and glanced to my left and thought, oh northern pintail duck. My inner critic then said Nah, so I stopped and turned around and sure enough it really was a northern pintail. I was very, VERY excited. I've been birding for a long time and it is getting more and more fun as I can identify many birds at a glance and many more after a bit of study. It is only now and then that I have to get out the book and ponder. And I've only had to email a picture to Melinda once so far this year. Whoo HOOO!

Home from ILA North

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

I attended (and presented) at the ILA regional conference in Moscow. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to book a room that evening in Moscow because of graduation ceremonies. I finished the conference and drove to the Super 8 in Coeur d'Alene. Next moring I headed for home. There was so much to see on the way home. It was fabulous!

On the way home I stopped at the lake and took a few pictures, and I stopped at the Mission and took a few pictures. I did not go in the Mission, I've been there before and I didn't want to take the time. Heading south I got to Missoula around 1:00. I headed into the city hoping to find somewhere interesting to eat. With Nick's long distance (thank heavens for cell phones) help. I did find a great lunch place but it was packed and there was no parking in the downtown area and there were people everywhere so I gave up and headed south. That little detour (which still didn't get me lunch) took an hour. Anyway, I ended up at a roadside diner south of Missoula.

As I passed Camas wildlife refuge the urge to go birding was overwhelming so I stopped in Roberts and did a drive by through market lake. There were tons of birds! It was early evening and I found the Short-eared owl out hunting. I just assumed it was a RT hawk, still it was sitting on a post and I might as well look and once I got my binoculars up I realized that this was no hawk. It posed for awhile and then took off to find more food. It was very cool.

I saw a LOT of birds over the 3 days including:

Short-eared owl, Golden eagles, Bald eagle, Red-tailed hawks, Swainsons hawks, Turkey vultures and Kestrels

American-white pelicans, Long-billed curlew, Kildeer, Mallards, Western grebes, Double-crested cormorants, White-faced ibises, Sandhill crane, American avocet, Black-crowned night heron, Wilson's phaleropes, Great-blue herons,

Ruddy ducks, Cinnamon teals, Coots, Lesser scaups, Northern shovelers, Readheads,

Franklins gull, California gull, Common tern
Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Stellars jay

House sparrows, Rock doves, Mourning doves, Robins, Western meadowlarks, Ruby crowned kinglet, Yellow rumped warblers,

Red-winged, Yellow-headed, and Brewers blackbirds

Bank, Cliff, Tree, Barn, and Rough-winged swallows

Red fox, Antelope, and Mule deer.

For more photos see the flickr set at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157618913280236/

Driving to Moscow

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Originally uploaded by J Semenza

There are two ways to get from Pocatello ID to Moscow ID. The first is via I15 to Couer d'Alene then South on US-95. According to Mapquest it takes 9 hours 7 minutes (612.64 miles). The second way is to drive to Boise on I84 then North on US-95. According to Mapquest it takes 8 hours 42 minutes (558.94 miles).

However, the first route is mainly on Freeway so it goes rather quickly. The second route (after Boise) is on two lane highway so it can go much more slowly. Then there's also factors such as weather to take into consideration. I'd rather do the long fast way if there's a chance of snow.

In any case, I decided to go the short slow way for the first time as an adult person this month. I had a speaking engagement at the Idaho Library Association - Northern Region in Moscow. And so began the drive. US-95 is very scenic!

See more photos of this drive at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157617844962542/

I drove the long fast way home. Since I compulsively stop and stretch my legs or take photos or what have you, both drives take the same length of time... 10-11 hours.

Jenny