So, this is what it feels like to be well rested. I forgot what it was like. On Independence Day, I finally “caught up” on sleep a bit. A late morning stroll with Jeannette and Sasha at Libby Hill Forest in Gray was productive, however, with quite a bit of activity from adults busy gathering food for youngsters, and quite a few fledglings of various species out and about. We had at least three Prairie Warblers, an Indigo Bunting, and a handful of other warblers to name a few. Meanwhile, the rest of the day was spent catching up on yard work and reacquainting myself with my recliner. Ahhh . . . rest . . .

Our leisurely Saturday morning birdwalk visited North Yarmouth’s Old Townhouse Park, where we were treated to lots of Bobolinks (40+) and some crippling views of a pair of Indigo Buntings, among other things of course.

And now, I will finally get to the promised photojournal from my Utah trip.

The view from my hotel window:

And some images from around the lodges at Snowbird during my first two days in the area:

Pine Siskins at a feeder next to our hotel . . .

. . . and a female Cassin's Finch.

On my third day at Snowbird, I walked down the road to the White Pine/Red Pine Trailhead.

The extremely common Uinta Ground Squirrel. This cuties (scientifically speaking) were all over the place in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The gorgeous White Pine Trail.

Unfortunately, I never did make it to the end of the trail, turning around shortly after reaching this point.

I then took the easy way down.

On Day 4, I took the Tram from Snowbird up to the top of Hidden Peak (11,000ft), and then hiked down.

None of us have ever been in a place with so many MacGillivray's Warblers! Every other bird in the canyon was either a Warbling Vireo or a MacGillivray's, it seemed!

Later that night, a bunch of us went owling in pursuit of the reclusive Flammulated Owl. Our stunning success with crippling views made my 600th ABA-area bird even more rewarding. This photo, by my good friend Jeff Bouton, was actually taken the next night, but of the same individual that we saw. Jeff is quite dissapointed in the shot - notice how the twig, not the bird, is in perfect focus. But, the fact that Jeff was able to DIGISCOPE any shot of a "Flam" in the middle of the night was impressive on its own.

I finally got out of the canyons on the 26th, when Robert and I did some birding. We began at Bridal Veil Falls, where I scored my Black Swift.

But a family group of American Dippers, including this fledgling, stole the show.

We then visited Farmington Bay WMA, at the edge of the Great Salt Lake. The flat bottom of the basin provided a much different terrain from the mountains, of course, and wide range of new species.

And, we topped off an excellent day with my lifer Band-tailed Pigeons. These backlight butt-shots do not do this attractive bird justice.

On Saturday, my last full day in Utah, I joined a field trip to the Jordanelle Reservoir. I found this Sandhill Crane with its young chick in the spillway. This is a lousy shot, taken by hand-holding my camera through my binoculars through the filthy window of an idling bus.

A Sego Lily, the state flower of Utah.

The Jordanelle Reservoir.

Common Nighthawks were particularly active and abundant today.