As part of our Fourth Anniversary celebration [1], we went this weekend to Lucin, Utah. We've considered going in the past, but it's a three-hour drive from Willard (where my parents live), so until now that has been a deterrent. Lucin was originally founded as a railroad stop. The railroad piped water into an artificial pond, for the steam engines to replenish with.[2] Eventually the town was abandoned. The pond is the only water for miles around, so migrating birds (especially warblers) are attracted to it.[3]
Lucin is just north and west of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Here is a picture from Highway 30 of the Salt Flats during sunrise (top) and later in the day (bottom).
Despite two sets of instructions, we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.[4] But here's a shot of the pond from where we parked our car. It was surrounded by box elder trees and by some huge cottonwoods.
Here you can see the two abandoned root cellars near the pond (on the left side of the top picture and the right side of the bottom picture). The top picture also shows Leann eagerly looking for warblers through her binoculars.
Some shots of the pond itself.
We also did a little birding in the brush away from the pond.
I tried to take pictures of the birds we saw, but they didn't turn out terribly well. The camera delays before actually taking the picture and quite often by then the bird had already moved on. Also, they wouldn't let me get very close. So I had to use the zoom on our camera, which made the pictures grainy and blurry. I've done what I can to touch them up. Besides the birds in the fuzzy pictures above, we also saw a Norther Harrier, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Merlin, lots of Mourning Doves, a Belted Kingfisher, several Northern Flickers, several Say's Phoebes, a Western Kingbird, a Loggerhead Shrike, a flock of American Crows, a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, some Mountain Bluebirds, a couple American Robins, a European Starling, a few Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few MacGillivray's Warblers, a few Common Yellowthroats, a few Yellow-breasted Chats, a Lark Sparrow, a White-crowned Sparrow, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Red-winged Blackbird, a Brown-headed Cowbird, and a flock of American Goldfinches.[6]
Notes:
[1] See my post Two Special Days.
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucin, Utah.
[3] See http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/boxelder/Lucin.htm.
[4] Even more confusing, when we left we drove up along the railroad and ended up on the road we came in on. But we had no idea where we'd made a wrong turn in the first place.
[5] They were probably a mating pair, but I didn't notice a nest.
[6] Birds we weren't sure about: either a Calliope Hummingbird or a Black-chinned Hummingbird—we didn't get a good enough look at her; an Olive-sided Flycatcher or a Western Wood-Pewee—flycatchers (which includes the pewees) are difficult to distinguish; a Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, or White-throated Sparrow—sparrows are also hard to distinguish; and possibly a House Finch. We also heard some Western Meadowlarks when we stopped to photograph the sunrise.
Lucin is just north and west of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Here is a picture from Highway 30 of the Salt Flats during sunrise (top) and later in the day (bottom).
Despite two sets of instructions, we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.[4] But here's a shot of the pond from where we parked our car. It was surrounded by box elder trees and by some huge cottonwoods.
Here you can see the two abandoned root cellars near the pond (on the left side of the top picture and the right side of the bottom picture). The top picture also shows Leann eagerly looking for warblers through her binoculars.
Some shots of the pond itself.
We also did a little birding in the brush away from the pond.
   |
| Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii—left); Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus—center) [5]; and Lazuli Buntings (Passerina amoena—right) |
   |
| Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus—left); Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia—center); and Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata ssp. auduboni—right) |
I tried to take pictures of the birds we saw, but they didn't turn out terribly well. The camera delays before actually taking the picture and quite often by then the bird had already moved on. Also, they wouldn't let me get very close. So I had to use the zoom on our camera, which made the pictures grainy and blurry. I've done what I can to touch them up. Besides the birds in the fuzzy pictures above, we also saw a Norther Harrier, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Merlin, lots of Mourning Doves, a Belted Kingfisher, several Northern Flickers, several Say's Phoebes, a Western Kingbird, a Loggerhead Shrike, a flock of American Crows, a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, some Mountain Bluebirds, a couple American Robins, a European Starling, a few Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few MacGillivray's Warblers, a few Common Yellowthroats, a few Yellow-breasted Chats, a Lark Sparrow, a White-crowned Sparrow, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Red-winged Blackbird, a Brown-headed Cowbird, and a flock of American Goldfinches.[6]
Notes:
[1] See my post Two Special Days.
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucin, Utah.
[3] See http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/boxelder/Lucin.htm.
[4] Even more confusing, when we left we drove up along the railroad and ended up on the road we came in on. But we had no idea where we'd made a wrong turn in the first place.
[5] They were probably a mating pair, but I didn't notice a nest.
[6] Birds we weren't sure about: either a Calliope Hummingbird or a Black-chinned Hummingbird—we didn't get a good enough look at her; an Olive-sided Flycatcher or a Western Wood-Pewee—flycatchers (which includes the pewees) are difficult to distinguish; a Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, or White-throated Sparrow—sparrows are also hard to distinguish; and possibly a House Finch. We also heard some Western Meadowlarks when we stopped to photograph the sunrise.
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