Antelope Island State Park

Oh boy, it's been a while since I've posted! Well lets see we've gotten six new birds since then sorry I haven't posted. I've been busy with non bird related things and also due to the fact that we just haven't really seen much of anything these past few months.

In August, we got a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in South Dakota. Only new bird we got that month. South Dakota really didn't help us find any new birds, except that flycatcher.

September rolled around with no birds at all, but then again we really didn't go out looking either!

October came with four new birds. Two in California and two in Arizona. In California we stopped along highway 58 by a stream and got some shots of a White-tailed Kite and Lawerence's Goldfinch. Arizona got us Jupiter Titmouse and Palm Warbler. The warbler was in fact out of range! That one was in Flagstaff, AZ behind a truck stop in some trees. The Jupiter Titmouse was out in the desert!

White-crowned Sparrow

Here are our monthly totals so far~
January- 117
February- 35
March- 53
April- 47
May- 76
June- 6
July- 3
August- 1
September- 0
October- 4
November- 1
December- .....

Well you're probably wondering what is the one bird we came across in November was. Well it was a great find. A ground bird that you can apparently always find on Antelope Island State Park. A Chukar! We spent the day there and saw nice wildlife and birds there.

We saw lots of gulls, ring-billed and California Gulls, and some Northern Shovelers along the 7 mile causeway to get to the island. Once we made it to the island we spotted a Bison! The bison are the most populated animal on the island. There are also Mule Deer, Coyotes, Bighorn Sheep, Porcupine, and plenty of birds.

Chukar

Our first stop was the visitor center where the bird feeders are. There was actually no feed in the feeder so the only birds around was White-crowned Sparrows. On our way to the ranch we spotted a Prairie Falcon flying by. So we made our way down to the Garr Ranch in search of a Barn Owl...no luck, but did see American Robin, Song Sparrow, and about 8-10 Northern Flickers.  After taking some photography shots for my Facebook

Prairie Falcon

page we then headed back to the visitor center stopping often to take photos of deer, bison, coyote, and a rare shot of a porcupine.

When we returned there was feed in the feeder and an assortment of birds at the feeder ~ Red-winged Blackbirds, Black-billed Magpies, California Quail, Chukar and White-crowned Sparrows. With a new lifer and a new year bird our trip was turning out great! Will have to try and get back there in the spring.

Wish us luck in finding more birds to finish our big year!