There had been recent snow in the Salt Lake City area. When I arrived last evening, there was at least
6 inches or more on the ground and with snow still on the edges of the streets
and roads. It was cold. I decided to wait until the sun was up (sunrise
at 7:50 am) to drive approximately 45 miles to the entrance to Antelope Island
State Park, because last night when I arrived there were areas on the streets
that had a thin glaze of ice. I picked
up breakfast to go and drove north on I-15 along the east side of Great Salt
Lake. The road was clear but with a few
snowy and slushy areas. There had been
reports of Chukar in eBird: 10 on 11/03/13 with a photograph on Antelope Island
Road, four were reported from another location on Antelope Island Road on
12/09/13 and had been heard from that same location on 11/05/13 and 11/18/13
and 8 were reported along the causeway to Antelope Island on 12/09/13. I had recorded the GPS locations of all these
locations. I arrived at the entrance
gate at about 9:25 am, paid the entry fee and drove slowly toward the island on
the causeway, a distance of about 5 miles.
Everything was snow covered on the sides of the causeway road. It should have been easy to see a grayish Chukar
against the snow. However, I did not
find a Chukar along the causeway.
I decided to go to the location where there were three
different reports of Chukar during November and December prior to my
visit. Antelope Island Road followed the
coast south along the island and was the only road in that direction. The road was mostly open but had a few places
that were ice covered but which had enough open areas with wheel tracks that
the icy areas could be negotiated. I got
to the GPS location and got out to scan the rocky slopes and to listen for
possible Chukar calls. It is often
difficult to determine if the GPS location in eBird is the location of the
sighting or if that just happens to be where the report was entered. I scanned the rocky slopes with binoculars
and telescope, and briefly played Chukar calls.
However, I had no luck in finding a Chukar. There were Common Ravens and Black-billed
Magpies flying along the slopes well uphill from my location. A white pickup truck stopped, and the driver
asked me what I was looking for. He
thought that I was looking for bighorn sheep also found on the island. When I told him that I was looking for Chukar,
he told me that he was a hunter, and that a better place to look was not far
south of my location around the corner and uphill from a black-topped parking
area with a cable across the road uphill from the parking area. He told me that there were many Chukars if
one walked up to a gravel parking area beyond the black-topped parking
area. I thanked him for the information
and decided to check out this location.
Around the corner and south, a herd of bison was in the
grassy area on the lakeside of the road.
There were other vehicles there watching the bison. I continued beyond the bison herd and found
the parking area. I parked in the
parking area, gathered my camera, binoculars and backpack with water and wet
suit coat and pants just in case I needed another layer. The road up to the flat gravel area was hard
packed snow and slippery and was an elevation change of about 200 feet in about
0.5 mile. Apparently, the road had been
open before being closed, and the vehicles had packed the snow hard. I walked along the side of the road in the
crusted snow, where I had better traction.
The habitat looked good for Chukar.
The uphill steep slopes had rocky outcroppings interspersed with snow
covered grass and vegetation. As the
hunter had stated, there was a relatively large flat gravel area, an apparent
parking area but now snow covered. I
birded this area for about 40 minutes but found no Chukar. The flat area had been cut out of the
hillside, and the steep sides prevented me from scanning the uphill slopes for Chukar. At the south end of this flat area, there
were trailhead signs for Frary Peak Trail and Dooly Knob Trail. I climbed the short distance up to the trail
head and signs. As I was scanning the
south slopes, I found a coyote, hunting the slope. The coyote also was watching me, but soon
disappeared. I hiked up the Frary Peak
Trail for a short distance of only several hundred yards and maybe only 50 feet
of elevation change. With the snow
cover, the trail was too treacherous for the foot gear I was wearing. It looked like others had hiked the trail
with crampons on their hiking boots. I
did get far enough up the trail to be able to scan the uphill slopes, and found
only Common Ravens and a Black-billed Magpie, but no Chukar. However, I did find footprints in the snow,
three toes forward and one backward that were probably Chukar footprints. Apparently, there had been Chukar in this
area since the snow fell. I took a
telephoto photo of the uphill area to show the habitat. See photo below of the uphill area from this
trail.
 |
| Chukar habitat |
I carefully hiked down the trail to the flat parking area,
where I found a small flock of American Goldfinches and a Snow Bunting. At least there were a few birds around. I continued back down the road to my car, and
had some lunch that I carried with me.
More people had arrived at the parking area. Consequently, I was glad that I got there
early. They asked me about the condition
of the road for hiking, and I shared my experience with them. Two groups started hiking up the road. The view was excellent from up there. It is appropriate that this location is named
Mountain View Trail Access. I continued scanning the slopes uphill but was not successful in spotting a Chukar.
I decided to drive to the Visitor Center to see if there
might be someone there with information about how to find Chukar. I arrived at the Visitor Center close to 1:00
pm. The lady at the desk knew about
Chukar. She said there was a large group
every morning when she arrived, waiting for her to fill the feeder. If I walked around the area outside near the
outcroppings, I might still see a Chukar.
I told her of my experience in the morning. She said that the north end of the island was
better for Chukar. She was not aware of
many Chukars in the southern part of the island. Another place to look was Buffalo Point
Trail. She gave me directions to Buffalo
Point Trail. I knew that Chris Hitt had
seen Chukar on this trail during his Lower 48 Big Year. However, he did not wait until winter to find
his Chukar. I had previously looked at
the glossy brochure handed out at the entry booth, but did not find Buffalo Point
Trail on the map in that brochure.
However, much later after I had found Buffalo Point Trail, I looked carefully
at a two sided one page listing of Antelope Island Trails and found Buffalo
Point and the trail on the map. Should
have looked carefully earlier!
I first looked out the window of the Visitor Center at the
feeder. There were no Chukars at the
feeder. As instructed, I walked out of
the door to the north to look around and walked the walkway around the west
side of the Visitor Center. There were
Chukar tracks in the snow everywhere, radiating out from the visitor center
like spokes in a wheel! See photo below.
 |
| Chukar tracks in snow at Visitor Center |
I should have
stopped here early in the morning! I
walked out around the rocky outcroppings around the Visitor Center hoping to
find a Chukar. I succeeded in finding
many additional sets of Chukar tracks in the snow, but no birds! It was not too late to give Buffalo Point
Trail a try before sunset.
I found Buffalo Point and the trail easily. The roads there were completely free of snow
and ice. As I approached the parking
lot, a coyote was standing in an open area on the left side of the road and
would occasionally throw back its head.
When I parked uphill at the parking area, I could see the coyote throw
back its head then hear a delayed coyote howl.
That was fun to see. The trail up
to Buffalo Point was icy and covered with packed snow. The lower part of the
trail faced east and was mostly in shadow during the whole day; therefore, the
sun did not melt the snow and ice. I was
able to negotiate the lower part of the trail by taking advantage of tracks from
previous hikers that formed steps. Further uphill, the trail became more open
where the sun had melted the snow and ice.
I got about half to two-thirds of the way up the trail, but had no
success. Further uphill, the trail
appeared to become more snow covered and icy and got steeper. It did not look promising. I probably could not reach the top.
However, a more promising area seemed to be close to the
southeast edge of the hill off of the trail, on a steep gravel and rock
downhill slope to the flat area near the lake.
I worked my way over to the edge.
The footing in this area was much better, because the snow and ice was
mostly melted. I scanned the downhill
slope, and played Chukar calls. Then I
moved further down toward the parking area and prepared to do this again. As I looked over the edge, a Chukar streaked, running
along the sloping hillside toward my left.
I saw the white face surrounded by the dark border, but not very clearly. It was difficult to see other details,
because I was looking directly toward the glare of the late day sun lowered in
the sky. I tried to find the bird again,
but could not. Chukar is known to be
very secretive and elusive. I continued
down the trail and carefully got down the steep icy part of the trail to the
parking lot. There was one last chance
to see Chukar well and maybe get a photograph.
Perhaps, Chukar come into the feeder at the Visitor Center late in the
day just before sunset. Hopefully, this
brief view of Chukar at Buffalo Point would not be the only one for me.
I arrived at the Visitor Center at about 4:00 pm. The scenery was beautiful with the partial
snow cover, the lake and the distant snow-capped mountains. I took several photos. See below.
 |
| Scenery looking east across the lake from visitor Center |
 |
| Scenery looking southeast across the lake from Visitor Center |
 |
| Scenery looking south from Visitor Center |
I walked into the Visitor Center and down the hall to the glass
windows and looked out to the feeders. There
was a Chukar all fluffed up against the cold, huddled on top of a snow covered rock by the feeder! Yes!
Success! See photo below.
 |
| Chukar huddled at feeder |
I carefully walked by the window to not spook the bird and quietly
walked out the glass doors on the north side of the building. I quietly walked over to the corner of the
building and peeked around the corner hoping to get a better photo not through
the glass. The Chukar saw me and flew
down the hill from the feeders followed by four other Chukars that were hidden from
my view from inside the building. I took
several relatively long distant photos of the two birds that were close. See photo below.
 |
| Chukars downhill from feeder |
I went back inside the Visitor Center to let the lady know
that I found Chukar at the feeder. I
headed to my car and started driving toward the causeway to head south to Salt
Lake City. As I drove the road toward
the causeway with the Visitor Center on the right, another Chukar ran across
the road. I observed it walking toward
the feeder as I drove on. The sun was
setting and it was almost 5:00 pm.
Before I got to the entry gate I stopped at a pull off and took photos
of the pink alpine glow on the snow-capped Wasacht Moutains to the east and of
the sunset to the west. See photos
below.
 |
Alpine Glow on Wasacht Mountains
at sunset from causeway |
 |
Sunset at Antelope Island
from causeway |
I was hungry and stopped to pick up some hot chocolate and
some snacks. While I was stopped, I made
online reservations at the motel where I stayed last night. Then I headed back to my motel for the
night. The next day was Christmas. Chukar was a nice Christmas present to me to
add to my year list. I spent the whole day
looking but finally succeeded at the end of the day. That is not the first time that has happened during
this Big Year.
I did not make reservations for a flight to my next location
until I was sure that I had found Chukar.
That night I would decide for certain my next location, probably
Spokane, Washington, to try for Gray Partridge.
Bob Ake had found Gray Partridge near Spokane during his Big Year, and
there were a number of reports of Gray Partridge near Spokane on eBird for November
and December. When I got to my motel, I checked
for flights to Spokane, WA. The next day
was Christmas, and getting a flight out of Salt Lake City could have been
difficult.
Chukar raised my Big Year total to 731 plus two
provisionals, Common Redstart and Eurasian Sparrowhawk as of December 24. (See the final total for the year, 733 + 2
provisionals, reported on January 3, 2014.)
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