When: Wednesday, July 13th 7:00-11:00pm

Well the middle of the summer is here this week and with it the end of the breeding season for a number of owls. July is a great time to get up in the mountains looking for owls and this week has typically been a pretty successful week for finding them. Here at the Utah Birders Blog we have been talking about sponsoring field trips for some time and decided this is a perfect way to kick things off.

With that being said this Wednesday July 13th, we are going to have our Impromptu End of Season Owling Trip. We will be meeting at the Shopko in Sugarhouse at 7:00pm to head up to East Canyon to look for a few birds before it gets dark, and owls and nightjars after the sun goes down. In the past we have seen and or heard FLAMMULATED OWL, NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL, GREAT HORNED OWL, LONG-EARED OWL, COMMON POORWILL, and COMMON NIGHTHAWK. Along with the nocturnal species we might also find Fox Sparrow, Swainson’s and Hermit Thrush, MacGillivray’s and Yellow Warbler, American Dipper, Violet-green Swallow, House Wren, and Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee among other things.

Flammulated Owl in East Canyon, June 2008

If you are interested in going send us an email at utah.birders@gmail.com with your name, the number of people interested in coming, and a contact phone number. We are asking for a $5 donation per person that participates that we will be giving to a local conservation organization as part of our goal to help promote and protect habitat and birds in the state of Utah.

We will be meeting at the Shopko Parking lot in Sugarhouse at I-80 and 1300 east just to the west of the Red Lobster. From there we will car pool up the canyon and stop at several locations between Salt Lake and Jeremy Ranch, heading up over Big Mountain Pass and into East Canyon. We should be done and back to Salt Lake sometime around 11:00pm.

Good Birding and we look forward to seeing you there!