july/aug 2016 NEWSlETTER OF gREaT SalT laKE auDuBONwww.greatsaltlakeaudubon.org

INSIDE

BIRDS ‘n BITES BIRDS ‘n BITES will take a summer break. Programs resume in September.

Board highlights ..................................................page 2Subscriber Solar.....................................................page 3 annual Bird Banner art Contest...........................page 3Membership Information.......................................page 3 Field Trips.........................................................pages 4,5Bluebird Box Trail Report.....................................page 6Field trip to the Restoration Site in Fairfield ........page 7

great Salt lake audubon is the proud adoptive parents of Bar-ney, a great horned Owl at the Tracy aviary. Barney was found as an egg on the Barney gold Mine conveyor belt and now rather than hooting, he still makes loud chirps like a baby owl.

In the wild, the diet of great horned Owls is 90% mammals and 10% birds. Mammals include voles, mice, ground squirrels, rac-coons, opossums, and skunks. Birds include ducks, geese, great Blue herons, and other raptors, including hawks and smaller owls. It occasionally eats lizards, snakes and invertebrates such as scorpions. It can lift prey equal to its own weight.

It is the most common and widespread of North american owl species. Its only natural enemy is other great horned Owls, although occasionally other birds eat its eggs. Owls also become poisoned after eating rodents that have been poisoned by hu-mans.

A SpeciAl progrAm iS plAnned for July 14th, 7pmA Screening of the dVd, ThE MESSEngER

it will be shown at the gore Business School Auditorium at Westminster college. come a little early to enjoy some refreshments and socializing.

The Messenger explores our deep-seated connection to birds and warns that the uncertain fate of songbirds might mirror our own. Moving from the northern reaches of the Boreal Forest to the base of Mount ararat in Turkey to the streets of New York, this film brings us face-to-face with a remarkable variety of human-made perils that have devastated thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks and many other airborne music-makers.

On one level, The Messenger is an engaging, visually stunning, emotional journey, one that mixes its elegiac message with hopeful notes and unique glances into the influence of songbirds on our own expressions of the soul.

On another level, The Messenger is the artful story about the mass depletion of songbirds on multiple continents, and about those who are working to turn the tide.

In ancient times humans looked to the flight and songs of birds to protect the future. Today once again, birds have something to tell us.

SAturdAy, AuguSt 20th Join uS for A SpeciAl field trip to A Section of the JordAn riVer migrAto-ry Bird reSerVe, And See the reSultS of gSlA’S yeArS of reStorAtion Work.

Details of the trip are on page 5.

2The Pelican

ThE PElICaNNEWSlETTER OF gREaT SalT laKE auDuBON

Printed on recycled paper.

Mission Statement: Great Salt Lake Audubon is dedi-cated to protecting and enhancing habitat for wild

birds, animals and plants, and to maintaining healthy and diverse environments for wildlife and people

throughout the state.

greAt SAlt lAke AuduBon directorywww.greatsaltlakeaudubon.org

office152 W. Burton, Suite J, SLC, Utah • (385) 313-0608Send correspondence to P. O. Box 520867, SLC, UT 84152-0867

officerSPresident, heather Dove.......................................801-201-3637.Vice President, Ray Smith....................................801-532-7384Secretary, Heather Griffiths.............................. 435-213-6565 Treasurer, janet Frost.......................................... 801-277-5138

BoArd of directorSTerm Ending 2018Ian Batterman........................................................920-360-0805Term Ending 2017Karin Kirchhoff................................................... 801-793-0484 anne Terry............................................................361-649-2430Heather Griffiths.................................................. 435-213-6565Term Ending 2016Nancy Sakahara.....................................................801-487-4025 guy Frost.........................................................801-277-5138Janet Frost..............................................................801-277-5138

commmittee chAirSFinance, guy Frost............................................801-277-5138Newsletter Editor, Nancy Sakahara.......................801-487-4025Public Outreach, Nancy Howard...........................801-487-4925Education, anne Terry...........................................361-649-2430Field Trips, Ian Batterman....................................920-360-0805Fundraising............................................................OPEN Hospitality, Bob & Darlea Stack............................801-487-3792 Membership, Heather Dove ..................................801-201-3637.Programs, Karin Kirchhoff.....................................801-793-0484 Publicity, Rollie and Martha Westman...................651-308-2717 Conservation, Deb Drain......................................801-455-4353 Volunteer Hours, Barb Eastman.............................801-671-8932 Website, Heather Dove & David Druker................801-201-3637.

Submission guidelines: Original articles and photos arewelcomed. The editor reserves the right to choose and edit as needed. Email articles to newsletter@greatsaltlakeaudubon.org. The Pelican is published 6 times a year. Submission deadline for the September/October issue is august 10, 2016.

BoArd highlightS, mAy/June by Karin Kirchhoff and Heather Dove

a member’s social is being planned for September at the Chase Mill in the Tracy aviary. Watch for details in the next Pelican

heather Dove attended the Earth Day celebration and awards breakfast hosted by utah Rivers Council and utah Open lands Trust. Steve Erickson, our lobbyist, received a legacy award for his many years as an environmental advocate.

Walkie-talkies have been purchased for trip leaders that use car caravans for field trips. These were selected because of the their range, having rechargeable batteries, price, rated in the top ten, and waterproof. They will be used primarily for the Farmington Bay trips and another set will be available as needed for other trips sponsored by gSla.

gSla was a sponsor at the gSl Bird Festival in May.

Deb Drain, Chair of the Conservation Committee, attended the Friends of great Salt lake Issues Forum. She will give the membership a report at a future Birds ‘n Bites.

great Salt lake audubon submitted a letter to President Obama, Department of Interior Secretary Sally jewell and Department of agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging the creation of Bears Ears National Monument.

The transfer of the jordan River Migratory Bird Reserve to the utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commis-sion was completed.

The Basin & Range Seminar went well despite some last minute trip leader changes. On behalf of the gSla mem-bership, the Board would like express a heartfelt ThaNK yOu to jeanne le Ber and Ray Smith for a job very well done!

Special programs are planned: a screening of the DVD, The Messenger on july 14th, eBird seminar on October 13th, and a presentation by Nalini Nadkarni, an interna-tionally known canopy tree researcher will be on October 27th.

janice gardner, gSla’s former Conservation Chair, will be offering a hands-on teaching session about how and why to use ebird. This event is scheduled for Thursday October 13th. Details will be listed in the Sept/Oct Peli-can.

3july/auguST

three ways to join or renew your membership:

1. great Salt lake audubon-only membership is $30 a year. all dues support local education, advocacy, habitat restoration, field trips, news-letter publication, and more. (See membership form on page 8 of The Pelican). Local membership is very important, as GSLA is primarily self-supporting.2. A new membership to National Audubon Society (NAS) costs $25, with renewal of $35 after the first year. Benefits include the quarterly national magazine and automatic membership in gSla. Most of your dues support environmental campaigns at the national level. as a new NaS member, you will receive a courtesy subscript to our newsletter, The Pelican, for one year. Thereafter, if you wish to continue to receive The Pelican, please join great Salt lake audubon. 3. you can join both gSla and NaS if you wish to support both local and national activities.

Ashley Soltysiak, Senior Policy Associate of the environmental nonprofit, heAl utah alerted us at our May 17th meeting about a new program, Subscriber Solar from Rocky Mountain Power. Subscriber Solar works like this; Rocky Mountain Power has acquired a contract with a 20-megawatt solar plant in Millard County, utah to provide power for the next 20 years. Customers will be able to sign up for “blocks” of energy usage. These blocks are worth about 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy each month. To put that in perspective, the average utah home uses about 747 kWh per month. So, if you purchase one block you will be supplementing almost a fourth of your electricity usage with homegrown green energy. If you would like, you can purchase enough blocks to make your electricity use 100 % renewable energy! Subscriber Solar is unlike Rocky Mountain Power’s other green energy program, “Blue Sky”, which involves purchas-ing green energy in the form of Renewable Energy Credits from out of state. Subscriber Solar is generated right here in utah. This is a big plus because it increases utah’s overall clean energy portfolio and gives options for individuals that cannot install rooftop solar in their home, but still want to support renewable energy. The program also differs from Blue Sky in that it allows customers to lock in the “Energy Generation Charge” portion of their bill for up to 20 years. heAl utah is strongly encouraging utahns to sign up not only because we want to see more renewable energy use in our state, but also to show Rocky Mountain Power that there is a demand for this type of energy. you can watch a video and learn more about the program by going to https://www.rockymountainpower.net/subscriber . Residential customers can begin reserving blocks starting on June 21st and Non-Residential customers (i.e., businesses) can register immedi-ately! The solar plant is expected to be online later this year and you will begin getting credit for your clean energy by january 2017. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions: ashley@healutah.org

A meSSAge from kAthi StopherVisitor Services ManagerBear River Migratory Bird Refuge

hi Everyone,

here is a little snippet from our annual Bird Banner art Contest, where the student art hangs on Main Street mid-june through mid-july.

This is a photo of Zach, holding his banner, with his father, john Ren-nemeyer. Twenty years ago, john was in his son’s place holding one of the first banners that started this annual tradition. This year’s contest saw over 1,000 entries, resulting in beautiful art which will adorn the Main Street of Brigham City june 13 - july 15, 2016.

The Pelican 4

great Salt lake Audubon, www.greatsaltlakeaudubon.org(385) 313-0608

calendar of events including field trips for Jul/Aug 2016

Beginning birders and nonmembers are always welcome.We encourage carpooling on our field trips. contributions to drivers for gas money would be appreciated. Be sure to call the field trip leader to confirm that arrangements are still as published.

Physical Difficulty:EaSy - little or no walking, smooth paths.MODERaTE - 1 mile or more, possible rough terrain.DIFFICulT - extensive walking which could include rough terrain and significant changes in altitude.Despite our best efforts, ratings for the field trips are still somewhat subjective. Please consult with the leaders.

****pleASe note: eXpect field tripS to leAVe on time So ArriVe 5-10 minuteS eArly to ArrAnge cArpoolS.**** Wednesday July 6th, 7am, moderAte mountAin dell rec. AreA, pArley’S cAnyon leader: john Middleton Come and join us for our monthly bird survey. We’ll meet by 7am in the parking lot just west of REI on 33rd South and 3285 east for a morning of birding. Call John (801-322-2171) if you plan to attend.

Saturday July 9th, 7:30-noon eASy, moderAte, difficultBrighton Bird countleaders: jeanne leBer & Ray SmithPlease join great Salt lake audubon for our annual Bright-on Bird Count. We will meet at 7:30am at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon in the parking lot adjacent to the Silver lake Visitor Center. Birders can select one of three birding options: 1) Silver Lake (easy walk), 2) Lake Solitude (mod-erate hike), 3) Twin Lake (strenuous hike). Novice to expert birders are welcome to participate. a potluck lunch follows at Noon after a pleasant morning. Bring a dish to share and your own eating utensils, plate, cup. gSla will provide cold drinks. To carpool, meet in the parking lot at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon by 7am and then proceed to Silver Lake. Please call Jeanne LeBer or Ray Smith at (801-532-7384)

The Messenger on July 14th, 7pm Westminster college, gore Business School Auditorium See page 1 for details.

monday July 25th 6am iSSr, eASyinlAnd SeA ShoreBird reSerVe (kenne-cott’S mitigAtion WetlAndS)leader: Bryant OlsenWe have obtained permission to do a monthly bird survey of the Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve from Rio Tinto/Ken-necott utah Copper. This is seldom open to the general public and features all of the familiar great Salt lake wetland habitats and birds that we usually have to travel farther north to find. Who knows what new birds we can document for Salt lake County out there? We will also explore areas around lee Kay ponds, the International Center and Saltair/Marina, depending on time and where birds are being reported. We meet at Shopko at 6am to carpool. PRE-REgISTRaTION IS REQuIRED as there is limited space on these field trips. Contact Bryant Olsen at 801-498-0362 or bryant_olsen@yahoo.com to sign up.

Wednesday, July 27th 7am– noon, eASy fArmington BAy folloWed By AreAS north for thoSe intereStedleader: Bryant OlsenMeet in SE corner of the ShopKo parking lot in Sugar-house by 7am to carpool OR meet at 7:30am at the gSl nature Center on Glover Lane in Farmington (I-15 exit 319 in Centerville, then Frontage Rd north 4 miles to glover lane overpass OR I-15 exit 322 in Farmington, then back-track 2 blocks on Frontage Rd to the overpass afternoon Birding Option. after birding “The Bay” for the morning, anyone interested can continue birding northward with Bryant. Destinations will likely be Kaysville Ponds or antelope Island depending on what birds are being seen. Call or email Bryant if you plan to attend. (801-498-0362; Bryant_olsen@yahoo.com

Wednesday, August 3, 7am , moderAte mountAin dell rec. AreA, pArley’S cAnyonleader: john Middleton Come and join us for our monthly bird survey. We’ll meet by 7am in the parking lot just west of REI on 33rd South and 3285 east for a morning of birding. Call John (801-322-2171) if you plan to attend.

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great Salt lake Audubon, www.greatsaltlakeaudubon.org(385) 313-0608

calendar of events including field trips for Jul/Aug 2016

july/auguST

Saturday August 13, 7:30am, moderAteSolitude Bird hikeleader: Ian BattermanThe Solitude Ski Resort is teaming up with gSla to bring a special birding tour of the trails of the resort. Depending on the numbers and the weather, we may take the gondola up to some of the upper mountain trails. We will be talk-ing about breeding mountain birds and will hopefully see a few of them as well. We will meet at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon at 7:30am to Carpool or at 8am at the main parking lot at Solitude. If you are interested in join-ing, please call Ian Batterman at (920)-360-0805 or email at imbatterman@gmail.com.

Saturday, August 20th 7am moderAteJordAn riVer migrAtory Bird reSerVeleaders: Maureen Wilson and Ian BattermanJoin us for a field trip to a section of the Jordan River Mi-gratory Bird Reserve, and see the results of gSla’s years of restoration work. The jRMBR, which is now owned and managed by the utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, is located south of 10600 South, South jordan City. We will meet at 7am at the SE corner of the Sugarhouse ShopKo parking lot in Sugarhouse for carpooling. There will be at least one water crossing, so wear boots or be prepared to get wet. Contact Ian Batter-man at 920-360-0805 or at imbatterman@gmail.com to let him know you are coming.

Saturday August 27, 7:30am, moderAte yelloW fork cAnyonleader: Ian BattermanDown in the Southwestern corner of Salt lake County is yellow Fork Canyon, a wonderful hiking spot and a unique area for birding in the county. Here you will find a mix of mountain and desert species that in many cases can only be found in the more arid areas of the state. This will be a somewhat strenuous hike, so please remember sunscreen and water. We will meet at the Sugarhouse Shopko at 7:30am to arrange a carpool. Please contact Ian Batterman at 920-360-0805 or at imbatterman@gmail.com if you are interested.

monday August 29, 6am iSSr, eASyinlAnd SeA ShoreBird reSerVe (kenne-cott’S mitigAtion WetlAndS)leader: Bryant OlsenWe have obtained permission to do a monthly bird survey

of the Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve from Rio Tinto/Ken-necott utah Copper. This is seldom open to the general public and features all of the familiar great Salt lake wetland habitats and birds that we usually have to travel farther north to find. Who knows what new birds we can document for Salt lake County out there? We will also explore areas around lee Kay ponds, the International Center and Saltair/Marina, depending on time and where birds are being reported. We meet at Shopko at 6am to carpool. PRE-REgISTRaTION IS REQuIRED as there is limited space on these field trips. Contact Bryant Olsen at 801-498-0362 or bryant_olsen@yahoo.com to sign up.

Wednesday August 31, 7 am– noon, eASy fArmington BAy folloWed By AreAS north for thoSe intereStedleader: Bryant OlsenMeet in SE corner of the ShopKo parking lot in Sugar-house by 7am to carpool OR meet at 7:30am at the gSl nature Center on Glover Lane in Farmington (I-15 exit 319 in Centerville, then Frontage Rd north 4 miles to glover lane overpass OR I-15 exit 322 in Farmington, then backtrack 2 blocks on Frontage Rd to the overpass afternoon Birding Option. after birding “The Bay” for the morning, anyone interested can continue birding northward with Bryant. Destinations will likely be Kay-sville Ponds or antelope Island depending on what birds are being seen. Call or email Bryant if you plan to attend. (801-498-0362; Bryant_olsen@yahoo.com

Wednesday, September 7, 7am, moderAte mountAin dell rec. AreA, pArley’S cAnyon leader: john Middleton Come and join us for our monthly bird survey. We’ll meet by 7am in the parking lot just west of REI on 33rd South and 3285 east for a morning of birding. Call John (801-322-2171) if you plan to attend.

gSla thanks the voters of Salt lake County for their support of the Zoo, Arts & parks program.

The Pelican 6

BlueBird BoX trAil thriVingOn Saturday, june 4, 2016, great Salt lake audubon folks visited the Per Fluge langeland Bluebird Box Trail in Strawberry Valley. The weather was perfect with a blue sky and warm temperatures. It was a wonderful day to be in Strawberry Valley checking on the 100 nest boxes that have been maintained by GSLA since 1987.

Many thanks to our 11 volunteers: Zohal ahmed, guy and janet Frost, Meme and Rajah Ibrahim, jeanne le Ber, Nancy lombardo, Nancy Sakahara, Ray Smith, Miles and Patrick Watson. We couldn’t have done it without you!

We divided into five teams with the goal of determining what birds were using the boxes, was a nest present or not, and were there any eggs or chicks. The table below is a record of what was counted.

#nests eggs chicks fledgedmountain Bluebirds 28 25 7 0

tree Swallows 42 3 0 0house Wrens 11 2 0 0

empty 16missing 3

as you can see from the numbers, the swallows have the most nests, but the bluebirds have the most eggs and chicks. The bluebirds seem to be the earlier nesters and we note that the swallows are susceptible to the cold weather (or so we think) based on the 10 dead adult swallows removed from the bottom of 7 boxes.

7jul/aug

dArWin Bundy’S little piece of heAVenBy Heather Dove

On Friday june 17th, gSla members had the privilege of visiting Darwin Bundy’s lovingly restored 161 acres located at the south end of the Oquirrhs. Twenty-five years ago, Darwin purchased this land and began to restore this over-grazed, drained, cheatgrass-ridden property. his goal was to return the land to such a healthy state that it would attract a great diversity of birds and other critters. In addi-tion to planting thousands of trees, shrubs and native grasses, Darwin restored a perennial spring which naturally maintains 54 degrees year round. Dammed portions of it form pristine ponds that now support brown trout, rainbow trout and even least chubb, an endangered utah endemic species.

a great variety of birds now visit, nest and breed on Darwin’s proper-ty including kingfishers, herons, blue grosbeak, sage thrashers, marsh wrens, blackbirds, nighthawks, and grouse. Probably of most interest is the fact that seven species of owls have been sighted on this prop-erty, several of which return yearly to nest and raise their chicks.

On our trip in mid-june, we were treated to wonderful views of eight of the long-eared owls that had set up housekeeping. We saw both adults and big chicks that had not yet developed their flight feathers but had left the nest and were hopping around the branches. This is the third year that we have visited Darwin’s piece of heaven. Every year it is looking more lush and healthy than the previous year. With all the recent and ongoing destruction of habitat, we are so fortunate to have such a skilled and dedicated restoration specialist in our midst. Thank you, Darwin for all your work and for allowing us to continue to visit!

long-Eared Owl Photos by Margaret Sloan

Big chick!

another chick?

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