Bird Nerd List Update - May 26, 2012

I went camping yesterday with the family and my in-laws.  The campsite was home to hundreds of Yellow Warblers.  There is also a Golden Eagle nesting on the hill just above the camp.  I'm still not great at identifying birds or prey in flight, but this one was known to the camp resident guy.  While Whitney and Dane were fishing at Causey Reservoir with their grandpa, I saw a female Common Merganser.  Not bad for just an overnight camping trip. 



1. Muscovy Duck (CR)
2. Neotropic Cormorant (CR)
3. Anhinga (CR)
4. Bare-troated Tiger-Heron (CR)
5. Little Blue Heron (CR)
6. Great Egret (CR)
7. Great Blue Heron (CR)(Farmington Bay, Ut., April '12)
8. Cattle Egret (CR)
9. Snowy Egret (CR)(Farmington Bay, Ut., April '12)
10. Green Heron (CR)
11. Tricolored Heron (CR)
12. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (CR)
13. Black Vulture (CR)
14. Turkey Vulture (CR)
15. Broad-winged Hawk (CR)
16. Common Black-Hawk (CR)
17. Merlin (CR)
18. Northern Jacana (CR)
19. Black-necked Stilt (CR)(Farmington Bay, Ut., April '12)
20. Sanderling (CR)
21. Least Sandpiper (CR)
22. Red-lored Parrot (CR)
23. Mealy Parrot (CR)
24. Squirrel Cuckoo (CR)
25. Groove-billed Ani (CR)
26. Band-tailed Barbthroat Hummingbird (CR)
27. Violaceous Trogon (CR)
28. Green Kingfisher (CR)
29. Belted Kingfisher (CR)
30. Amazon Kingfisher (CR)
31. Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (CR)
32. Keel-billed Toucan (CR)
33. Collared Aracari (CR)
34. Chestnut-backed Antbird (CR)
35. Yellow-bellied Elaenia (CR)
36. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (CR)
37. Boat-billed Flycatcher (CR)
38. Great Kiskadee (CR)
39. Social Flycatcher (CR)
40. Tropical Kingbird (CR)
41. Mangrove Swallow (CR)
42. Clay-colerd Robin (CR)
43. Northern Parula (CR)
44. Summer Tanager (CR)
45. Passerini's Tanager (CR)
46. Great-tailed Grackle (CR)
47. Scarlet-rumped Cacique (CR)
49. Baltimore Oriole (CR)
50. Chestnut-headed Oropendola (CR)
51. Montezuma Oropendola (CR)
52. European Starling (Ut)
53. Read-winged Blackbird (Pineview Reservoir, Ut., March '12)
54. Black-billed Magpie (Ut)
55. Osprey (Pineview Reservoir, Ut., March '12)
56. Pine Siskin (Ut)
57. House Finch (Ut)
58. American Tree Sparow (Ut)
59. Cassin's Finch (Ut)
60. White-crowned Sparrow (Ut)
61. Mourning Dove (Ut)
62. Mallard (Ut)
63. Northern Pintail (Pineview Reservior, Ut., March, '12)
64. Northern Shoveler (Pineview Reservoir, Ut., March, '12)
65. Northern Harrier (Antelope Island, Ut., March, '12)
66. Black-capped Chicadee (Ut)
67. American Robin (Ut)
68. Eurasian Collared-Dova (Ut)
69. Rock Pigeon (Ut)
70. Canada Goose (Pineview Reservior, Ut., March '12)
71. Common Merganser (Male, Pineview Reservior, Ut., March '12) female (Causey Reservoir, Ut., May '12)
72. California Gull (Ut)
73. Western Meadowlark (Antelope Island, Ut., March, '12)
74. Wood duck(Ut, March, '12)
75. Gambel's Quail - (Ogden Nature Center - March, '12)
76. House Sparrow - (Ut., March, '12)
77. Dark Eyed Junco (Ut., March, '12)
78. American Goldfinch (Layton, Ut., March, '12)
79. Sandhill Crane (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
80. Killdeer (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
81. Bufflehead (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
82. American Coot (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
83. American Avocet (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
84. Chipping Sparrow (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
85. American Kestrel (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
86. American White Pelican (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
87. Green-Winged Teal (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
88. Cinnamon Teal (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
89. Gadwall (Farmington Bay, Ut., March, '12)
90. Downy Woodpecker (Layton, Ut., March, '12)
91. Double Crested Cormorant (Jensen's Nature Park, Ut., April, '12)
92. Yellow-headed Blackbird (Jensen's Nature Park, Ut., April, '12)
93. American Wigeon (Jensen's Nature Park, Ut., April '12)
94. Barn Swallow (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
95. Horned Grebe (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
96. Eared Grebe (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
97. Redhead (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
98. Greater Scaup (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
99. Lesser Scaup (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
100. Chukar (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
101. Willet (Antelope Island, Ut., April '12)
102. American Crow (Ut.)
103. Common Raven (Ut.)
104. Ring-billed Gull (Ut.)
105. Long-billed Curlew (Famington Bay, Ut., April '12)
106. Franklin's Gull
107. Caspian Tern
108. White-faced Ibis (Farmington Bay, Ut., April, '12)
109. Forster's Tern (Farminton Bay, Ut., April, '12)
110. California Quail (Jordan River Temple, Ut., May, '12)
111. Black Bellied Plover (antelope Island, Ut., May '12)
112. Bonaparte's Gull (Antelope Island, Ut., May '12)
113. Brewer's Black Bird (Antelope Island, Ut., May '12)
114. Red Tailed Hawk (Ogden Nature Center, Ut., May, '12)
115. Yellow Warbler (Memorial Park Campground, Ut., May '12)
116. Golden Eagle (Memorial Park Campground, Ut., May '12)
117. Bank Swallow (Jensen Nature Park, Ut., June '12)
118. Ring-necked pheasant (Farmington Bay, Ut., June '12)
119. Western Kingbird (Farminton, Ut., June '12)
120. Wilson's phalarope (Antelope Island, Ut., June '12)
121. Short-billed dowitcher (Antelope Island, Ut., June '12)
122. Rudy duck (Antelope Island, Ut., June '12)

Dan Savage, Hypocrisy, and the Bullying Cycle

When I was picked on by the cool kids in jr. high, it didn’t make me more compassionate or empathetic for those who were less cool than me. Instead, I became a bully myself. Hey, if I couldn’t be the alpha male, I sure as heck wasn’t going to be the omega male. Of all the things I’ve done in my life that I’m ashamed of (and there are plenty), what still wakes me up with guilt in the middle of the night are the memories of unkind things I said and did to other kids between the ages of 12 and 17. Apparently Dan Savage, head of the It Gets Better Project, is still stuck in this mean bullying cycle. Watch as he uses his position of authority, speaking to a group of teenagers about gay bullying, to mock the religious beliefs of members of his audience, and then refer demeaningly to those who dare take offense as “Bible people” and “pansy a**ed”, while a majority of the audience cheer him on. Who was the biggest bully in the room that day? There are a few things Dan Savage should remember. First, the young people in your audience aren’t the people who picked on you when you were a kid; they are people who came to hear you talk about bullying so they can hopefully avoid and prevent it. Secondly, kids don’t bully gays because of an overzealous study of Mosaic law or the Book of Romans; they do it for the same reason some people bully religious kids - because they are ignorant jerks (the bullies I mean, not the gay or religious kids). Bullying won’t end unless we can teach children to respect people who are different. I’m afraid Mr. Savage gave a very poor example of tolerance here, and actually perpetuated bullying instead of diminishing it. (Be sure to watch the video at the end of the following link - Dan Savage Makes Girls Cry.)