It's a cold, crisp, sunny first day of 2019.
Heading up to watch the sunrise over Farmington Bay this morning (Antelope causeway). And if the wind stops blowing, I'll sneak in a hike - hopefully.
It's dawn when I pass thru the pay booth. It's only 16 degrees and although the weather says that the Wind Warning expires at 8am, it's still blowing. Brrrrr! (But hey, it's not quite 8am yet.)
Not far past the booth, I see a large hawk perched on a sign. Unfortunately, he flies when I roll up too close.
As I cross, I continue to watch behind me for the sun rising above the mountain tops and when it does, I get out of the car to watch. To the north
and to the south!
Time to move on stopping first to check out the ducks that are congregated in the open water near the bridge. Tons of ducks!! (Shovelers, Green-winged Teals)
(GoldenEyes)
I also check for Bald Eagles near the docks but nothing.
I reach the island and head towards the Ranch.
I'm not surprised (based on the last couple of visits) when I reach the Ranch without seeing any critters! That's a 1st for me - not even a little black dot (bison) on the horizon. But it was cool to see the fog rising over Farmington Bay in the early morning light!
But I'm not ready to give up searching for critters. Instead of turning into the Ranch's parking lot, I turn into the "horse" lot across the street. There were Pronghorn out towards the mountains a couple of days ago perhaps they're still there. It doesn't take much searching to find that the herd of Pronghorn is still out there! Yea!
They are moving south towards Sentry Peak.
I then head over to the Ranch's parking and bundle up to check out wooded area for the Great Horned Owls. I haven't seen them in weeks.
I reach the south end of the woods, enter the meadow and head east. My eyes are looking up in the trees so when I look down I'm surprised to see there're 4 deer (doe) staring at me not more than 30 feet away! Very cool!
Funny, that a Magpie lands on the backside of one of them!
They slowly move slow in some trees
But I scare up 2 Pheasant as they fly by calling.
And then I continue my loop around the woods. Sadly, no owls. Maybe they'll come back for breeding season in a month or so; unless they've moved on. :( (That would be an end of an era.)
Time head back north.
The trip back north is a bit more exciting as I see 4 Pronghorn - just white spots on the horizon!
Also, as I'm nearing the first water bin, I see 2 coyote walking together thru the grasses! When I stop, so do they.
Seems like they had to much partying last night and have stopped for a nap! Awesome!
Reaching the north end of the island, I decide to head over to Bison Point -- it's still windy but I need to get some hike no matter how small in today and with it still only being 17 degrees, this is the perfect 1 mile hike.
As I drive over, I see no animals behind the Visitor's Center, on the north side of Bison Point or around the White Rock campground/trail. But as I head up the hill to the Bison Point parking, hey, there are 2 bison below! Yea!!
I continue to the top, bundle up and head up the Bison Point trail. Not much snow on the bottom parts but on the shadier upper parts, there's packed snow and ice. But easy going all the way to the top.
At the top, it's not as windy (perhaps the wind is finally calming down).
After a bit of exploring, it's time to head back down. On the way down, I see a small flock of about 5 Chukkars. As soon as I stop, they fly off the edge. I walk over to the edge hoping to see them no luck. Hey, there's a lone bison down here!! (That's 3 for the day.)
Back at my car, I drive down to the viewpoint on the Bison Point road to check on those 2 bison from earlier. I get out of the car for a better look and Surprise! there's at least 14 Pronghorn down there with the bison!!! Awesome!
Some are laying down,
others are grazing and 2 of them are mock fighting. Love it!
Time to call this 1st hike/trip of the new year done and head home.
As I cross the causeway, I see a large black spot on the ice. This can't be a Bald Eagle; I saw one out on the ice, basically same spot a few days ago! Yep, Bald Eagle!
Not sure why he's out there. I don't see any left-overs. Perhaps sitting out on the ice is warmer than being perched in this wind. Hmm.
Awesome day!
