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Field Trip Report for Saturday, December 4th, 2004 (Bird Feeder Tour of Cache Valley)

left to right: The BAS group in Stephen Peterson's kitchen, checking out the birds; Red-breasted Nuthatch makes an appearance; Pine Siskins devouring the Nyjer seed.

Our annual birdfeeders tour of Cache Valley brought out 9 individuals who were able to see some of the bird feeding setups in the area.

First stop was at Carolee Lavery and Stephen Peterson's home, where we sipped Wassell and watched Pine Siskins, House Finches,
a Mountain Chickadee and a Red-breasted Nuthatch dine on a variety of feeders. Nyjer seed, black oil sunflower seed and a chickadee
peanut butter, nut mix drew the birds in. Also spotted was a Downy Woodpecker working a suet basket. Many Dark-eyed Juncos scratched
for offerings on the ground. Other birds seen were American Goldfinch and Black-capped Chickadee.

Next stop was Martha Balph's homestead in Millville, where she has numerous nesting boxes for everything from Owls to Bluebirds.
Martha has a great setup of black oil sunflower seed feeders which were drawing in alot of House Sparrows, Juncos and House Finches.
We spotted a lone Ruby-crowned Kinglet here and watched as Black-billed Magpies descended on the cheeto puffs that Martha put out
for them.

We then headed back to Logan and to the backyard of Alice Stokes, where she has a beautiful area for birds, including Mountain Ash, Conifers
and nesting boxes for Owls. Next door was Alice Lindahl's place where we were able to watch a Red-breasted Nuthatch cruise in and pick
up a sunflower or two from the hoarding Juncos.

We made a quick stop out in Hyde Park to Will Pitkins home and Jeff Cursy's place. At Cursy's place we saw a Spotted Towhee and a single
Yellow-rumped Warbler.

To learn more about attracting birds to your yard you can check out Audubons birdfeeding basics.

- Stephen Peterson 12/06/2004

Complete Trip Bird List:

Pine Siskin
Downy Woodpecker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-capped Chickadee
House Sparrow
European Starling
Black-billed Magpie
American Goldfinch
Ring-necked Pheasant
Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Mountain Chickadee
White-Crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Yellow Rumped Warbler

left to right: Mountain Chickadee at log feeder; Dick Hurren greets Martha Balph in her kitchen; black oil sunflower feeders at Martha Balph's place.

left to right: Alice Stokes in her backyard; Western Screech Owl nesting box in Alice Stoke's backyard; next door in Alice Lindahl's living room.

Miscellaneous images from our field trip: Red Squirrel; Mountain Ash, a great attractant for birds; Dark-eyed Junco; Will Pitkin's backyard;
Black-billed Magpie; Alice Lindahl's backyard .