As dawn breaks, I find myself with a fellow birder at Lytle Ranch on the Beaver Dam slope, elevation approximately 2000 feet. With our binoculars and cell phone birding apps in hand we begin the search.
By nightfall we will be at Kolob reservoir, elevation a bit over 8,000 feet. Our list of birds observed for the day will exceed 100 different species. This day we will have passed through numerous life zones, beginning in the Sonoran life zone of the Mojave Desert and ending up in the alpine forests of the Canadian life zone.
In birders language we call this a “BIG DAY.” There are 924 bird species known to be in the United States. The average County in Utah has approximately 295 species, but Washington County (Utah's Dixie) boasts 400 species.
The incredible diversity of bird life in Utah's Dixie is due to several factors. Probably the most important is the convergence of three different physical features. The Great Basin desert invades Washington County from the North, the Mojave Desert from the South and the Colorado plateau from the East. Each different geophysical feature brings with it its own distinct complement of plan ts and animals (therefore birds).
In addition to the merging of geophysical features Washington County is incredibly diverse topography and elevation change, from 2000 feet to over 10,000 feet at the top of Pine Mountain (what locals refer to as Pine Valley Mountain). The numerous different life zones provide opportunity to observe many different species of birds.
Erosion has also played a part in the diversity of life here what was once the bottom of washes that filled with magma from ancient volcanoes are now the tops of ridges capped with basalt (lava). This Inverse Topography is not common elsewhere in the state It provides unique micro habitats such as north-south slopes which retained different amounts of moisture due to their orientation to the winter sun.
The difference in soil moisture content produces different plants and attracts different birds. There is also the fact that we are near the convergent of two different migration flight ways the Pacific Flyway to the West and the Central Flyway to the East. Birds from both of these flyways sometimes find their way into the county. Soil type should also be included in this list.
From basalt to sandstone and limestone the various different soils found in the area contribute to the diversity of plant life and therefore bird life as well. Sandstone is known to create both ephemeral pools after rainstorms and absorb water like a sponge which slowly in leaks out at the base creating life sustaining water seeps.
Surprisingly Utah ranks only 45th out of the 50 states in the United states with regard to the number of people who consider themselves to be birders. The national average is 24% but in Utah only 11% think they qualify. This is a bit unfortunate because research has shown birding to have tremendous advantages for human physical and cognitive health.
Committed birdwatchers have detectable brain differences that suggest bird watching reshapes the brain in much the same way as learning a language or a musical instrument does. Three combined studies in the UK have shown bird watching to be a remedy for stress anxiety and depression. Becoming a birder physically reshapes your brain. Considerable research shows that learning and practicing bird identification increases structural density and complexity in brain regions tied to visual processing, attention, and working memory. These changes help build a cognitive buffer that protects against age-related memory decline.
Perhaps Terry Tempest Williams put it best: “Birds are wherever we are. They are our companions. Birds are mediators between heaven and earth”.
