I spent another day here in Little Cottonwood Canyon, taking the tram up another 2900’ (in 8 minutes; much more efficient than hiking it!) to 11,000ft. There’s not much at this height, other than Violet-green Swallows nesting in the rafters of the tram building, and some “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warblers bouncing around. But, as I slowly trudged through soft snow down the hill back to Snowbird, I picked up a few more species here and there, including gorgeous Mountain Bluebirds and at least one calling Black Rosy-Finch.

The bigger adventure was in the evening, when a group of us set out owling, with Flammulated Owl being the primary target. We tried a little “fishing” here in Little Cottonwood Canyon, but then our local expert, Colby, took us to nearby Mill Creek Canyon. There, we hiked about ¾ of a mile in the dark (flashlights were of some help) to some prime habitat.

To make a long story short – and due to serious exhaustion at the moment, a short version will have to suffice – we called a “Flam” in to within about 30-40 feet, providing unbelievably crippling views of what is quite likely the hardest owl to SEE in North America. In the flashlight beams, we could even see its distinctive purple eye-shine. A few members of our group of 8, who had experience with this species before, were downright flabbergasted by our views. Plus, at least 3, likely four other “Flams” were heard. Really, this was a remarkable experience. This was not only my “lifer” Flammulated Owl, but it was also likely the best look that I will ever get in my life! Now, that’s how all Life Birds should be!

Although my life and “ABA area” lists are of very little consequence to me - I rarely even know that number any given species will be - this one was a little more special, as it marked my 600th species in the ABA area (the continental US and Canada). Lists are unimportant to me – well except my local patch lists, as you all know! – but milestones, such as #600 are pretty neat!

Anyway, after a mere 2 hours of sleep, Robert and I played hooky from the convention today, and escaped for a half-day of birding and good conversation. We began with Black Swifts (another lifer!) tooling around with a number of White-throated Swifts near their only nesting location in the state. Black Swifts are wicked cool birds, who nest only in caves behind cliff-face waterfalls – it doesn’t get more specific of a niche than that! An American Dipper fledgling being fed by its parents, however, did indeed steal the show.

In my first lowland birding of the week, Robert and I then visited Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area to enjoy fun stuff like American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, Western and Clark’s Grebes, lots of Eared Grebes, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Franklin’s Gulls, and other western goodies that I don’t get to enjoy very often.

One last stop produced one quick life bird. Not nearly as exciting as our crippling views and nighttime adventure with the Flammulated Owl, this was a pure and unadulterated “twitch” – to use Robert’s native lexicon. Two local birders were nice enough to offer the convention-goers the opportunity to visit their backyard to enjoy Band-tailed Pigeons that are visiting their feeding station. These are quite attractive pigeons, and a very good “yard bird.” Admittedly, it was a bit anti-climactic when the homeowner graciously led us through his house, pointed to the tree in his backyard, and said, “There they are.” Three pigeons – my third life bird of the trip, and the third in the last 18 hours – were sound asleep in the top of a tree, roosting in the rapidly warming early afternoon valley air.

But, despite our true desires, Robert and I decided it was time to “go to work,” and headed back up to Snowbird and back to the Convention – where I now type this as I do my very best to avoid falling asleep on my keyboard!