As far back as the Middle Ages, monks in the Saint Bernard monastery in the Swiss Alps discovered how helpful their dogs could be searching for travelers who had become lost in the mountains. In the 17th century, one of their specially bred St. Bernard rescue dogs, Barry, was credited with saving over 40 lives. By 1909, NYC police added a German Shepard, Max, to their search and rescue team.Now, in Cache Valley, there are 4 certified volunteer search and rescue dogs and their handlers working with the local law enforcement.

I was lucky to meet one of these four teams last weekend. Glen Gantz and his dog Moki were training at an empty outdoor lot in Logan. Glen had put a small tin can loaded with a bit of scent on the gravel covered ground. He then kicked enough gravel over the can to hide it from view.

Moki was raring to go. The command to search came from Glen and Moki took off. He circled the perimeter with his head up, and soon caught the scent. A few more seconds and Moki was lying down, his front paws and head pointing at the tin can. Glen acknowledged the successful find with a BIG shout out, “Good Boy!” Moki jumped up and came racing over to Glen for an extra round of praise and a small tasty treat. Then Glen pulled out Moki’s favorite toy and the two played their beloved game of tug of war.

I felt a bit honored to get this close up view of how much enjoyment a dog and his handler could get from working together as a team. I had once talked to a man whose dog would go into the forest with him to find truffles. The dog could smell these tasty fungi growing among the tree roots under the ground. The dog would paw the ground exactly where the man should dig. In the past, truffle hunters had used pigs to sniff out the truffles. The pigs were very good at locating the truffles and digging them up. The problem was preventing the pigs from eating them. He said you used to be able to identify a truffle hunter by how many fingers they were missing. The dogs were a much better team-mate.

A dog’s nose is said to be as much as 100,000 times as sensitive to smell as a human. A human has about 5 million scent receptors . A dog has over 125 million. When it comes time for a search for a lost person, nothing works better than a dog’s nose.

So when a 16 year old was reported missing in Hyrum, Glen and Moki were called in to help. Moki was given his scent and followed the trail. Four hours later, the trail ended at the edge of Hyrum Dam. Sadly, the boy was not found alive, but the family was able to retrieve the body, which meant a great deal to them.

So for our listeners who love to hike in our beautiful mountains, be careful. But know, should you need help, there are 4 certified search and rescue dog teams in the valley that are constantly training to improve their skills. They will come looking, and they will find you.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Picture: Courtesy Mary Heers, Photographer
Audio: Courtesy & © Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman
Voice & Text: Mary Heers
Additional Reading:

https://utahsheriffs.org/resources/search-and-rescue

The post Search and Find appeared first on Wild About Utah.

I must confess that I have a love/hate relationship with insects. Early years in Michigan exposed my tender flesh to a full suite of biters and stingers- black flies, deer flies, no-see-ums, gnats, horse flies, and clouds of mosquitos that would darken the sky! My dear farmer friend succumbed to a swarm of yellow jackets he angered while driving his tractor through a field, and I’m aware of insect vectors that inoculate us with wretched diseases- from the plague to malaria. Aside from this house of horrors, how often do we humans really appreciate these amazing beings?

Throughout history, insects have markedly shaped human culture—from serving as valuable sources of food, pigment, and fiber, to inspiring our greatest feats of engineering, art, and design. We have much to learn from their abundant wisdom.

They fuel life on Earth through their roles as pollinators, predators, and prey. Insects serve as foundational elements in almost every terrestrial environment, acting as both consumers and providers of essential services. Their presence ensures that energy flows efficiently through various trophic levels, supporting biodiversity from the smallest microorganisms to large vertebrates.

Approximately 90 percent of bird species rely on insects for food at some point in their lives. Terrestrial birds that depend on insects have experienced a dramatic decline over the last 50 years. When insect availability drops, birds often struggle to meet the energy demands required for their daily survival and the strenuous needs of raising offspring.

Aerial insectivorous birds have seen a 32 percent population reduction since 1970, with groups like swifts, swallows and nightjars struggling as their primary food source vanishes. Because they rely almost exclusively on capturing insects in flight, they are uniquely sensitive to the health of the broader invertebrate community. Their inability to switch prey types effectively means that even short-term drops in insect activity can have catastrophic effects on nestling growth and adult survival.

Migratory birds face a compounded crisis from their breeding territories to their nonbreeding grounds and essential stopover points. Long distance species are particularly hard hit, as they often arrive after the short, critical peak in insect availability, leading to reproductive failure that residents and short-distance migrants avoid. Spring arrival dates often fail to align with the peak emergence of essential insect prey, a mismatch increasingly caused by shifting seasonal temperatures.

Industrial agriculture replacing vast swaths of biologically diverse natural systems with a few plant species and use of pesticides combined with extreme weather are primary causes in insect loss

This is Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society and I’m wild about Utah’s bugs, even the biting ones!

Credits:
Picture: Courtesy US FWS, Tom Koerner, Photographer
Audio: Courtesy & © J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin and Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman
Voice & Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle W Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon Society, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Jack Greene’s Postings on Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

The following references were accurate as of the date of publication or most recent update.

The post Insects appeared first on Wild About Utah.

The seasonal changes in backyard birds is as exciting as the rare bird sightings because it is these changes and outliers which keep us alert, in tune, and connected to the world around us.
I often take breaks from supplemental feeding for by backyard birds over the summer, especially whenever there’s visitors with avian pox, but when the snowbirds return, it’s time to
fill the feeders with Black Oil Sunflower seeds, and this seasonal task is a way to stay grounded in a busy and sometimes unsettling world.

Though I live at the edge of town in the Wildland Urban Interface, I mostly enjoy the typical backyard songbirds such as the House Finch, American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, and Pine Siskins. Black-capped Chickadees come and go, as do Mountain Chickadees, and as others have been observing, there appear to be more higher elevation species coming to town for food – people are reporting Clark’s Nutcracker as a first in 17 years, as well as Steller’s Jays, and Woodhouse’s Scrub Jays.

My most unusual sightings in the past few years have included a Red-headed Woodpecker, which I really doubted, knowing we are well out of their range, but when I found that there had been a number of sightings in Logan Canyon over the years, I stopped doubting myself, especially since there is no other bird which even remotely resembles that bright red head, white belly and black back. Another rare bird sighting was the White-headed Woodpecker, but, again, there’s just no other species with that solid white head, red nape patch, and black wings with white wing bar. For my backyard feeders, though, the Northern Flicker is the only woodpecker which returns and hangs around, sometimes for hours working on the suet, black oil sunflower seeds, and even the white millet.

For those new to bird watching, I highly recommend checking whether there’s a local Audubon chapter or other bird watching group with an annual wild bird seed sale fundraiser, and if nothing else, to consider providing water year round, and especially through the winter.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the birds which may visit your garden if not your feeders – during migration there may even be the distinctive rattle of an overhead herd of Sandhill Cranes, or the honks from a flock of Canada Geese. This was the first time in 15 years I had a Canada Goose in my backyard, and I was recently visited by a Sage Thrasher, which are ground foraging insectivores, and when the light catches them just right as evening approaches, I can see small groups of Tree Swallows, busy aerial insectivores, catching their dinner on the wing.

I’m Hilary Shughart with the Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I am Wild About Feeding Utah’s Backyard Birds!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Hilary Shughart, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver
Voice & Text: Hilary Shughart, President, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

WildAboutUtah pieces by Hilary Shughart, https://wildaboututah.org/author/hilary-shughart/

Procure Bird Seed from local Audubon Chapters:
Great Salt Lake Audubon
Bridgerland Audubon
Other Statewide Birding Groups

Shughart, Hilary, To Grow Your Own Bird Food, Native Plants Are Key!, Wild About Utah, April 12, 2021, https://wildaboututah.org/native-plants-are-key/

Kervin, Linda, Bird Feeding, Wild About Utah, November 25, 2008, https://wildaboututah.org/bird-feeding/

Kervin, Linda, Cane, Jim, Feed the Birds, Wild About Utah, December 1, 2011, https://wildaboututah.org/feed-the-birds/

Liberatore, Andrea, Dark-eyed Juncos, Wild About Utah, January 12, 2012, https://wildaboututah.org/dark-eyed-juncos/

The post The Return of the Juncos Signals Fall Bird Feeding Time! appeared first on Wild About Utah.

Camping in the High Uintah’s is never easy. Due to the rugged landscape and high elevations, every trip offers its own unique adventure. On this occasion, my long-time hunting buddy and two labs, after a 4-mile hike with 2000 feet of vertical climb, were setting up tents in the dark with pelting graupel, lightning, and rain, at nearly 11,000 feet elevation. After getting the dogs and gear under a second rain fly we bring for just these occasions, we scrambled into our tent for a long, lightning-rattling type of Night.

The alarm began its rude song at 4 AM. We woke, worked on our gear, and made our way out of the tent to be greeted by the endless galaxies above. Those black mornings in the mountains, warming water for oatmeal and an instant cup of joe over a single burner portable stove, preparing to take off into the night, are cherished memories never forgotten.

We had our gear, guns, and dogs, and under the dim glow of headlights, started up the mountain towards the peak.

Sun barely began to illuminate shadowy surfaces when we reached our destination. We had come on this High Uintah adventure with two goals in mind, one being this. We had come to look for elk.

Elk are crepuscular, meaning they are most active in the morning and evening, so we needed the right vantage point at the right time of day. It wasn’t long after the east-facing hills slowly gained contrast and color that we started seeing elk. Nearly all of them enjoyed the steep slopes of the mountainsides, rather than valley bottoms. We watched as they meandered through the vegetation and lazily ate as they soaked in the morning rays. At about 9:00 AM, when most of the elk had found their way to timbered cover, it was time to pursue our next goal, which was why we had my two trusty dogs by my side.

As we slowly worked back down the bouldery slopes of the peak and the terrain turned to rocky plains with short willow, I prepared myself, my friend, and my dogs. I knew this was going to be our best chance, and it didn’t take long for my suspicions to be realized. My older and wiser black lab named Josi alerted me of strangers as we approached the first patch of shin-high willows. Her nose went down, her pace quickened, and her fast jerky movements gave me no doubt that it was time. And, like flashes of white lightning in a clear sky, they were in the air, flying this way and that, dogs chasing and yipping at tail feathers, shotguns raising and blasting. After the moment settled, only one of the elusive birds had been brought down and my younger lab, Blue, was proudly pouncing to bring back the mottled white and brown bird in his slobbery mouth.

The bird was a White-Tailed Ptarmigan, a prize upland bird that few hunters have ever seen. Biologists introduced about 50 of these birds to Utah in the mid-1970s as an experiment to see if they could establish a successful population, and the experiment was a success. Ever since, Utah’s High Uintah Mountains have been one of the only places in the lower 48 states where one has a reasonable chance to see the magical bird, a bird who loves the cold, high places, rocks, and willows.

The day continued, and although the fickle weather constantly changed from snow, to rain, to lightning, to blowing, to sun, and to graupel, we were successful in harvesting a few more birds from the majestic landscape.

As we finally made our way back toward camp, tired, wet, and carrying a few hard-earned birds, I found myself thinking less about what we had harvested and more about our experience. Hunting, to me, has been a way to experience nature more fully. It has taken me to wild places I would never otherwise have been, introduced me to natural phenomena I might have overlooked, and has helped me build relationships with people, places, and animals, that have positively shaped my life. There is something about spending a day trying to understand wild animals that changes my appreciation for the world, from the elk moving across the slopes, to the ptarmigan flashing through the alpine air; they all become part of the living landscape, and this may be what keeps calling me back; the opportunity to slow down, pay attention, and appreciate the remarkable beauty and wonder of a world that is so much bigger than myself.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am wild about Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin and lwdickens (freesound.org)
Text: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

White-tailed PtarmiganLagopus leucura, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-tailed_Ptarmigan/overview

Locating ptarmigans in the Uinta Mountains, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/ptarmigan

The post High Uintas appeared first on Wild About Utah.