INSIDER
Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Fremont • Loa • Lyman Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville
Volunteers Flock to Christmas Bird Count —One of the Best Ever
were several reports of Common Redpolls from the northern part of the state this year, but our specimen is the most southerly so far. But I digress. Following is a summary report of the Christmas Bird Count data collected on 14 December, six long weeks ago. There were 6” of snow on the ground at dawn, which boded ill for the count—or so we thought. Still, we plowed ourselves out and crept into town in a blizzard, only to find almost two dozen eager faces ready and willing to go out and count birds! Many thanks to Terry Tolbert for getting things started when it became apparent we would be late in arriving.
by Kathy Munthe What we thought would be a bust of a count turned out to be one of the best in several ways, thanks to the 24 field folks and six feeder counters who logged 75 party hours and covered over 300 miles by car and 17 on foot. For one thing, as the snow stopped and the fog lifted it became apparent that it was Raptor City out there. Almost all of the expected species were observed, and in goodly numbers. The dozen harriers, 21 red-tailed hawks, and nine ferruginous hawks were close to record numbers; there were more Cooper’s hawks (3), kestrels (9), and rough-legged hawks (8, a species not seen every year) than seen on previous counts. The great thing was that they were all so obvious, being active and interactive. One team was lucky enough to observe an altercation between a harrier and a red-tail. As the count occurred before our really cold period, there was a fair amount of open water and thus a decent variety of water-related species. Waterfowl included buffleheads, common mergansers, and western and eared grebes, species which aren’t observed every year; at the sewer ponds, two Wilson’s snipe were seen. There were no pygmy owls this year, but two great-horned owls turned up. There were two Say’s phoebes and more shrikes than usual, including two loggerhead and one northern shrike. The full range of corvids (crow family) were recorded, but numbers of some species were lower than usual: there were only 16 pinyon jays (no huge flocks), a single crow, and only 18 ravens. Some years we’ve had literally hundreds of ravens and/or crows. There were 13 mountain chickadees and a smattering of other bark gleaners but, once again, not a single wren of any sort. There were thrushes in abundance, including 80 western bluebirds, over 200 mountain bluebirds, and 16 Townsend’s solitaires. Most amazing, however, were the hoards of robins concentrated along the river and other stream courses: 2,001 of them! Among the sparrows, spotted towhees and song sparrows were reasonably abundant, and juncos (1,148, a record) were especially so. White-crowned sparrow numbers (561) were down, however, over most winters. Western meadowlark numbers (154) were at
PANGUITCH weather
LOA weather
ESCALANTE - Greetings, bird counters, bird watchers, and others. I hope we are all past the worst of the winter and are looking forward to a birdy spring! Very cold winters do have some advantages, birding-wise. They often force birds of the extreme north southward, to the delight of birders who seldom see such things. Case in point: the Common Redpoll which showed up at our feeder a couple of weeks ago. We’ve seen them in Alaska, but in Utah? Actually, there
Devon Wildlife Trust
Common Redpoll
Texas A&M AgriLife Ext.
Crissal Thrasher
Birds of Glacier Nat’l Park
Red Crossbill
an all-time high, but blackbirds appeared in only modest numbers. The huge clouds of starlings and/or blackbirds seen in previous weeks weren’t in evidence, although over 450 starlings were identified. Other “vermin” included over a hundred collared doves and over 70 house sparrows. Among the finches, house finches (21) were concentrated in town; 94 American goldfinches and 100 evening grosbeaks were also recorded. There were two very unusual species seen this count. The Terry Tolbert/Lisa Young team identified a Crissal Thrasher in the same place they saw one four years ago, and the Steve Cox/Allysia Angus team added a new species to our cumulative count list: Red Crossbill! That is our 114th species. In total, there were 67 species seen on this count and there were 6,111 total individual birds recorded (the previous high, last year, was 5,889). So, all in all, a successful count, thanks to everyone who contributed in any way, whether out counting or in a support capacity. Special thanks go to the Waggoner family who, as they have several times in the past, provided a venue for an aftercount get-together. It was wonderful to have a place to warm up and consume hot and delicious food, but it provided a satisfying closure to the day, as well. Some awards were given out at the after-count gathering. Prize winners were Jen Aliprandini (most enthusiastic newcomer, civilian), Lee Thompson (most enthusiastic newcomer, Federal), Mary Ann Miller (youngest participant). This has been my 10th year as compiler of this count. Whether or not I continue in this capacity, I want you all to know how much I appreciate your participation and support. We’ve come a long way from the late ‘90’s, when there were literally only a handful of counters and only three dozen species recorded. See you all at next year’s count! Kathy Munthe, an avid (worldwide) birdwatcher, is a reident of Escalante.
Thursday, February 7, 2013 • Issue # 982
SUU Athletic Hall of Fame Inducts Cherri Frandsen PANGUITCH - Cherri Shurtliff Frandsen’s contributions to the growth of women’s athletics in Southern Utah span two decades, and have been both countless and significant. She is an individual whose accomplishments at the high
her junior year and won state in the javelin and 300M hurdles her senior year. As co-valedictorian, she graduated in 1992 and was named Enterprise High School’s most outstanding athlete. She was a Math Sterling Scholar and received
Cherri Frandsen in a 1995 photo, playing basketball at SUU during her senior year. school and collegiate level place her among the top athletes to ever compete at Southern Utah University. Cherri was the 6th of 12 children, all of whom were excellent athletes. In the late 1980s she entered Enterprise High School where she excelled in academics, athletics, drama and music. Enterprise’s volleyball team won the state championship three years in a row and Cherri was named the girl’s volleyball 1A State MVP her junior and senior years. Enterprise’s basketball team took state her sophomore and senior years and she was named MVP her senior year. She won first place state honors in the long jump and 2nd in the high jump
Academic All-State honors. Cherri attended SUU on an academic and athletic scholarship and had the opportunity to play basketball there for two years with her older sister SuEllen. Her father, Larry R. Shurtliff, was her coach all four years and was named coach of the year during her junior and senior years. At SUU, Cherri was named to the All-American West conference first team in 1993, 1994 and 1995. In her Sophomore year she was Utah’s Collegiate Female basketball player of the year. She was SUU leading scorer all four years and still holds the career scoring record with 1,762 points. She was also second in
field goal percentage (.536), third in rebounding (774) and fifth in steals (157). Cherri was named SUU Athlete of the Year as a sophomore and SUU Female Athlete of the Year as a junior. She was named co-MVP of the conference tournament her junior year and MVP of the Conference Tournament her senior year. Cherri married David Frandsen (from Panguitch) after her sophomore year. She graduated from SUU in 1996 with a Secondary Teaching Degree in Math. The family then moved to Colorado so her husband David could attend graduate school in Physical Therapy for two years. After David’s graduation, they returned to Panguitch, where they currently reside. They have 5 children, two girls and 3 boys. Coaching legends in their own time, her grandfather Walter Brooks and father Larry R. Shurtliff instilled the knowledge and desire for competition and coaching in Cherri. She stays busy coaching several sports, including youth basketball and track and field. This year she was named as the Varsity Coach for volleyball at Panguitch High School. This gave her the opportunity to coach her oldest daughter Darri. The Team took 2nd at region and 5th in State. For her countless accomplishments as a Collegiate Athlete and Scholar and for her ceaseless efforts to extend the blessings of sports competition to young people, Cherri Shurtliff Frandsen has proven herself a most deserving representative of SUU ‘s pioneering spirit and now she takes her place as a valued member of the Southern Utah University Athletic Hall of Fame. On Saturday, January 26, Southern Utah University inducted Cherri Frandseen and four other former SUU athletes into its Athletic Hall of Fame. An induction ceremony and banquet took place that afternoon, followed by a halftime event in their honor at the Thunderbirds’ men’s basketball game vs. Eastern Washington that evening. Cherri is one of 51 Hall of Fame Athletes at SUU. —Submitted by Shawn Caine
Riley Family Delivers GMH’s First Baby of 2013
Proud parents April and Riley Roberts of Tropic with Heaton Call Roberts, Garfield Memorial’s first baby of the new year.
PANGUITCH - Garfield Memorial Hospital is proud to announce their 2013 New Year’s Baby. Heaton Call Roberts was born on January 16, 2013 to April and Riley Roberts of Tropic, Utah. Heaton was born late that evening and was 7 lbs, 11 ozs and 20 inches long. Heaton’s siblings, Treyson, Rylan, Zaren and Griffyn are excited about having a new brother and welcome him to the family. The family expressed their thanks in this note: “The Riley Roberts family would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the doctors, nurses and other staff at Garfield Memorial Hospital for their excellent care and individual attention given during the delivery of Heston Call Roberts. The staff all went the extra mile to make sure we were safe and healthy and the recovery was as comfortable and as smooth as possible. We love Garfield Memorial and would also like to thank them and the community for the gifts given for the delivery of the new year baby. Thank you again, Riley, April, Treyson, Rylan, Zaren, Griffyn and Heston Roberts.” Garfield and the Roberts family would like to express their appreciation to the local merchants who donated to the New Year’s Baby Gifts: Leland’s Chevron, State Bank of Southern Utah, Subway, Griffin Grocery, Zion’s Bank, Garkane Energy, C-stop Pizza, H&R Supply, Yardley Insurance, Joe’s Main Street Market and Garfield Memorial Hospital. —Garfield Memorial Hospital Wayne Phone: 435-836-2622 Garfield Phone: 435-676-2621 Fax 1-888-370-8546 PO BOX 105, Escalante, Utah 84726 snapshot@live.com
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PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122