HUNTING WITH A MICROPHONE 



717 



arid Wyoming tlie expedition wound over 

 the mountains to Logan, Utah, where I was 

 scheduled to give a course of lectures in 

 ornithology at the Utah State Agricultural 

 College. 



We traveled through the beautiful Logan 

 Canyon where we had our first opportunity 

 to get really acquainted with the dippers, 

 or water ouzels, which live along most of 

 the dashing Rocky Mountain streams. 

 Famed for its moclcingbirdlike song, which 

 is often heard in midwinter, the dipper pre- 

 sents a difficult problem for the microphone 

 because, with normal amplification, the 

 noise of the stream drowns out all other 

 sounds. 



Hence, we studied intently a pair that 

 had built their mossy nest on the side of a 

 huge bowlder, to determine some method 

 of capturing the song amid the rushing 

 water. We often saw the little bird plunge 

 headfirst into the whirling stream, using its 

 wings as flippers and running along on the 

 bottom in search of May-fly and stone-fly 

 larvae. The mountain torrent held no ter- 

 rors and the bird's dense plumage shed 

 water like a duck's. 



NO "mike fright" here 



The song season was nearly over, but we 

 soon discovered that this little dipper had 

 a favorite rock from which, early in the 

 morning, it sang before going in search of 

 food for its young. 



It was a simple matter the next morning 

 to fasten the microphone to the rock and 

 have the bird's bill within two inches of the 

 diaphragm while it was singing. Indeed, 

 at times it mounted to the microphone it- 

 self to sing, but then the scratching of its 

 tiny claws ruined the recording (opposite 

 page). 



In the beautiful Cache Vafley of Utah, 

 into which Logan Canyon empties, we found 

 many fascinating bird's, and during our two 

 weeks' stay added 1 S species to our already 

 long list of records. Birds like the long- 

 bifled curlew, the black-necked stilt, the 

 western willet, and the avocet, which we 

 think of as very rare in the East, are truly 

 common there (pages 718, 719). 



Even on the campus of Utah State Agri- 

 cultural College the lovely lazuli buntings, 

 lark sparrows, Cassin's purple finches, and 

 black-headed grosbeaks made bird observ- 

 ing a real pleasure. 



bur normal method of recording at day- 

 break, however, was completely upset, for, 



with the setting of the sun, there poured 

 down the canyons from the snow peaks 

 above a strong, cooling breeze that con- 

 tinued until 6 o'clock the next morning. 

 This was, no doubt, as delightful to the 

 sleepers as it was annoying and frustrating 

 to our recordings. It proved a blessing in 

 disguise, however, to some of the party, for 

 Kellogg and Tanner could sleep that much 

 longer while I continued to arise at 4:30 to 

 lead my class of students afield to observe 

 the birds. 



Many afternoons we drove to the Bear 

 River Marshes, about 22 miles southwest 

 of Logan, and enjoyed the innumerable 

 waterfowl that had congregated there: 

 ducks by the thousand, Franklin's gulls, 

 Brewster's egrets, white-faced glossy ibises, 

 western and eared grebes, and others too 

 numerous to mention, and certainly too 

 numerous to photograph satisfactorily in 

 the short time at our disposal (page 714). 



Several pairs of snowy plovers had laid 

 their eggs in the middle of a gravel road 

 leading into the marsh from Brigham and 

 would dash off their nests just long enough 

 to let each car pass over and roll by. There 

 were literally scores of these interruptions 

 daily, but the birds continued to live in the 

 middle of the road (page 720). 



The last week of June found us headed 

 northward toward eastern Idaho to look 

 for trumpeter swans. It is thought that 

 only about 75 individuals of this species 

 remain alive in all the United States, though 

 at one time it was not an uncommon bird 

 throughout the West. 



Arriving at Henrys Lake, we scanned its 

 surface with our binoculars and discovered 

 a pair of these birds swimming near a sub- 

 merged island in the middle of the lake. 

 Finding very comfortable quarters at the 

 Bar L Ranch close by, we decided to stop 

 for a few days. 



TRUMPETER SWANS REFUSE TO TRUMPET 



Next morning we surveyed the lake more 

 closely and found that there were 19 swans 

 staying there, one of which had already 

 molted its wing feathers and was unable 

 to fly. None of the birds was nesting, how- 

 ever, even the mated pair in the center of 

 the lake having been discouraged by the 

 changing water level, for the lake was being 

 used for water storage by a power com- 



panv. 



We were hopeful that some of the flock 

 might fly around and do some trumpeting 



