2008 Tour Narrative
Note that the 2009 edition of this tour will run August 1-8, providing opportunity for even more migrants and vagrants in the Great Basin.
Fitting in nicely with this year’s ABA Convention in Snowbird, Utah, this four-day WINGS tour to the Ruby Mountains set a high standard for our full-length Nevada and Utah tour. Fourteen intrepid birders set out for Nevada, with a few stops for waterbirds along the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake and at isolated ponds along Interstate 80. The ponds in Wendover held hundreds of ducks and Canada Geese, but the real treat there was a hunting Prairie Falcon that circled us at eye level. At a small marsh along the Humboldt River provided a wealth of breeding Sandhill Cranes, American Avocets and Willets tending young, and hundreds of White-faced Ibis. We arrived in Elko in the early afternoon and had a truly wonderful dinner at one the town’s famous family-style Basque restaurants: the food is exceptional and the portions border on the ridiculous, with several participants boxing up their leftovers for a picnic lunch the next day!
A very early start on the morning of our hike in the Ruby Mountains found the group eating breakfast at the trailhead at the end of Lamoille Canyon. Our slow pace on the ascent allowed us to reach the viewing area above the lake about half an hour after dawn. The still partially snow-covered glacial cirque lit up into a visual feast of gold and red as we started scanning the ridges for Himalayan Snowcock. After just one hour we managed good views of no fewer than six birds walking along the upper ridge, showing all their field marks well through our scopes.
Flush with success we started downslope, pausing repeatedly to enjoy the incredible array of wildflowers, streams flowing heavy with snow melt, and the occasional singing Dusky Flycatcher, MacGillivray’s Warbler, or Green-tailed Towhee. After a celebratory lunch we enjoyed a short walk through an aspen grove where a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers were feeding their young and a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird was patrolling the trail. Our last stop before a well-deserved siesta was for a cluster of Lewis’s Woodpeckers and a singing male Lazuli Bunting at the bottom of the canyon.
Our second full day in the Elko area found us driving around the southern end of the mountain range to the isolated but magnificent Ruby Lake NWR. Along the way we stopped at a large reservoir for great views of Western and Clark’s Grebes, Franklin’s and some surprise summering Bonaparte’s Gulls, stunning Black Terns, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and a Burrowing Owl. The pass through the southern end of the Rubys was quite birdy, with a lush riparian area filled with Western Wood-Pewees, Clark’s Nutcrackers, multiple Golden Eagles, Yellow-breasted Chats, Cassin’s Finches, and Lesser Goldfinches. Particularly enjoyable were several stunning Violet-green Swallows perched obligingly at eye level in excellent light.
The refuge was beautiful—and full of baby birds. Everywhere we looked we found more duck broods or young grebes or coots swimming in the marshy ponds. Hordes of blackbirds sang from the emergent vegetation, and a quick glimpse of a Sora running along the road livened up the drive. Other highlights included extended views of a singing Marsh Wren, a pair of Trumpeter Swans, and a Long-billed Curlew. At lunch in a nearby picnic area we lucked into a roosting Long-eared Owl in the junipers, a fine dessert indeed!
On Day Four we drove across a privately owned ranch along the Saint Mary’s River. This property encompasses an incredible 100,000 acres and is home to several birds that are hard or impossible to find elsewhere in Utah. The rolling sagebrush of the Great Basin seems to stretch out forever, and the small willow thickets along the river teem with birdlife. In some of the rich grasslands near the river we found Eastern Kingbird and several displaying Western Meadowlarks and Bobolinks. The willows along the river held the very local Black-capped Chickadee, a few pairs of Sandhill Cranes, and more Warbling Vireos than one could count. In the more upland sagebrush we found a singing Sage Sparrow, seemingly scarce this year, and well over a dozen Sage Thrashers.
Our last stop was in a nice stand of pinyon-juniper along I-80, where we found several Gray Flycatchers, a Black-throated Gray Warbler, and a totally unexpected Northern Goshawk soaring over a ridge. Watching this magnificent hawk circling against the backdrop of the still snow-covered Ruby Mountains was an amazing experience. Reluctantly we pulled ourselves away and made the drive back to Salt Lake City, stopping again at Wendover for a surprise Wood Duck on the back pond. A late-afternoon whirlwind trip to Antelope Island was successful in producing fine views of our main targets, Chukar and Barn Owl. The causeway was overflowing with birds, as thousands of American Avocets and Willets joined tens of thousands of Eared Grebes, California Gulls, and Wilson’s Phalaropes enjoying the bounty of brine flies in the shallow saline bays.
This shortened version of our regular WINGS tour was packed with birds and a lot of truly memorable landscapes. The August 2009 tour is timed for even better numbers of southbound migrants, especially shorebirds, and will include the stunning Wasatch and Uinta ranges in Utah for birds of higher-elevation forests and the Rocky Mountains.
- Gavin Bieber
Updated: July 2008