After touring the Tetons, Terry and I extended our birding tour into Southern Wyoming and Utah including Dinosaur National Monument, Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Botanical Garden and Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

Lazuli Bunting - male (A western bird that I have searched for over five years)

Lazuli Bunting - male

Lazuli Bunting - female

Black-chinned Hummingbird - male

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird (Displaying its iridescent gorget)

Western Flycatcher

Western Meadowlark

Bullock's Oriole

Chukar (Introduced from Eurasia, is a game bird living in the high desert plains of western North America.)

Song Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Brewer's Blackbird

Common Raven

Killdeer

Northern Shoveler & Cinnamon Teal

Northern Pintail

Gadwall

Western Grebe

Foster's Tern

Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Bald Eagle

California Gull

In 1848 flocks of California Gulls miraculously appeared eating swarms of crickets that were devouring Mormon crops and saved the crops. Mormons called this event “The Miracle of the Gulls”. A statue of the gull was erected on Temple Square to commemorate this miracle. The California Gull is the state bird of Utah.

The Mormon Cricket - female

The cricket that attacked the Mormon crops were hatching when we were driving through Dinosaur National Monument. They covered the road in three areas we drove through. Note: these are not actually crickets, but members of the katydid family resembling fat grasshoppers that cannot fly.

A large hatch covering the highway at one of areas we drove through.

Adventures

Birding Southern Wyoming and Utah