Utah: Red Butte Arboretum

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Our second day in Salt Lake City we visited Red Butte Arboretum, in the hills behiund the U. of Utah. The views from the site are beautiful.

Some of the views inside are very good, too.

I spent a little time admiring the many varieties of plants.

However, my main focus was on looking for birds. I was hoping for Yellow Warbler, Lazuli Bunting and Western Scrub Jay. Predictably, though, Black-billed Magpies were the first birds to show.

American Robins were all around, here as everywhere else we went in Utah.

One had found a very tasty morsel for lunch.

When I spotted this Downy Woodpecker, I didn't realize it was going to be one of only three types of woodpecker that I would see in the whole Utah trip.

Western Wood-Pewees were much more common.

I found a (distant) Yellow Warbler without difficulty. It took much longer to find a Lazuli Bunting.

I was disappointed not to see any Western Scrub Jays during our walk. However, a scan of the skies from the parking lot produced a much more interesting bird - a Golden Eagle. I'll take a Golden Eagle over a Scrub Jay any day! 

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