I have been enjoying my first few days here at Snowbird in Utah – even if I have not had a life bird yet! The scenery is absolutely breathtaking – literally, the air is thin up here at 7,800ft!, and the local birding has been a lot of fun for an Easterner like me.

I arrived Sunday afternoon (6/22), and in the evening, J.B, and I took a walk around the grounds of the Snowbird ski resort, our host for the 2008 American Birding Association Annual Convention. Our short stroll was a good way to sample some of the common birds of the area, many of which – such as Violet-green Swallow, Western Tanager, and MacGillavray’s Warbler – I have not seen in a few years.

Monday morning, I began my day walking up the road from the resort, through the village of Alta. A short while later, Steve, Mike, and Michael joined me, and the four of us continued up hill, following a closed-off dirt road. A Pink-sided x Gray-headed Junco hybrid may have been our “best” bird, but I was more impressed with fun stuff like Lazuli Buntings and Mountain Chickadees. Five Clark’s Nutcrackers flew overhead; always a treat.

On Tuesday, I was not taking part in any field trips, so I spent the first half of the day hiking. I walked about 1 to 1.5 miles downhill this time, and then took the White Pine Trail, climbing a couple of thousand feet in about 3 – 3.5 miles. It was a beautiful, and quite birdy walk, and the trail was fairly gentle. I had hoped to make it to a lake 4.1 miles from the trailhead, but I got tired of post-holing in the snow! There’s still quite a bit of snow in the high elevations here this year, and I was having flashbacks to marching up my driveway all winter, so I decided to turn back. Besides, I thought it would be best to have some energy remaining when the trade show opened – considering that’s the reason I am here, afterall.

Although my hike did not turn up a Dusky Grouse, as I had hoped, I did get ample opportunity to study more Western species that I have limited experience with, and seeing a pair of Golden Eagles soaring low overhead, slowly gaining altitude in the warming morning air, effortless gliding over and past a snow-capped peak more than made up for the lack of any life-birds!

So, in the past three days, exploring this canyon, I have gotten a good feel for the birds of the area. Pine Siskins and Warbling Vireos are amazingly abundant, but all of us – including those with significant Western experience – are most impressed by the quantity of MacGillavray’s Warblers. I never thought I would tire of seeing ANY member of the genus Oporornis! For me, a highlight so far has been the “Slate-colored” Fox Sparrows, a subspecies that I have not seen before this trip, but have been enjoying the last few days.

Today is a full-day manning the booth for St. Paul Island Tours, so my birding will be limited to the windows until this evening. But, I’ll probably take part in a field trip tomorrow to get a bit farther afield and see some new birds and new habitats.