Although I am Georgia born and a creature of eastern N America's low mountains,
piedmont and coastal plain, there is no denying the majesty and amazing natural
wonders to be found in the American west. So when we made a trip to visit
family in Utah, I took the opportunity to enjoy the biodiversity of this very
different landscape. The vertical gradient is the primary factor other than
climate that affects ecology. Starting at one of my favorite areas, Antelope
Island State Park, in the Great Salt Lake at a base elevation of about 4200
feet, you can look upwards almost 5000 feet to the nearby tops of the still
snow-capped Wasatch Mountains in early June. You will note a herd of buffalo
grazing on the shoreline plants and these add a touch of excitement to hikes in
the area.
The Great Salt Lake is a bizarre place where strange birds such as the eared
grebe feed on brine shrimp. Fresh water marshes nearby provide habitat for
fish-eating birds such as great blue herons which are shown here nesting
communally on a remarkable structure built at the Farmington Bay nature center.
These marshes also support yellow-headed blackbirds which surprisingly are more
closely related to meadowlarks than red-winged blackbirds; the male only is
brightly colored in the yellow-headed, whereas in the meadowlark both sexes
have a bright yellow breast. We also encountered a baby and adult great horned
owl nesting in a barn where a barn owl was also seen.
The sage brush habitat on Antelope Island also supported the sage thrasher
which only occurs in the West; it is related to our eastern brown thrasher. A
group of possibly migrating Swainson's hawks flew overhead and I show a photo
of the underside of an adult while soaring in a thermal updraft, which reveals
the distinctive light and dark pattern of the light-colored adult morph.
At high elevation near Park City in a creek valley we had astonishing looks at
the MacGillivray's warbler which is closely related to our eastern mourning
warbler. We also saw this warbler on the top of a ridge at the head of
Farmington Canyon where we found a profusion of alpine wildflowers, including
the spectacular Indian paintbrush.
Visits to unfamiliar and exciting habitats can rearrange your thinking which
can become complacent in your familiar haunts. So enjoy your summer travels and
do not fail to explore the natural wonders to be found.
Bill Dunson
Galax, VA and Englewood, FL
http://lemonbayconservancy.org/news-blog/nature-notes-by-bill-dunson/ ;
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Antelope Isl UT vista 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3908 aa.JPG
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Eared grebe Antelope Isl causeway UT 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3738 aa.JPG
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Great blue heron nest structure Farmington Bay Natrure Center UT 6.4.16 Bill Dunson IMG_4004 aa.JPG
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Yellow headed blackbird Farm Bay UT 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3999 aa.JPG
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Great horned owls Antelope Isl UT 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3790 aa.JPG
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Sage thrasher Antelope Isl UT 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3906 aa.JPG
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Swainson hawk Antelope Isl UT 6.3.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3831 aaa.JPG
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MacGillivrays warbler Jeremy Ranch Rd UT 6.2.16 Bill Dunson IMG_3942 aa.JPG
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Indian paintbrush Farmington Canyon UT 6.5.16 Bill Dunson Jr.png bb.jpg
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