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!
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