Birding Southern Wyoming and Utah
/ Brian LewisAfter touring the Tetons, Terry and I extended our birding tour into Southern Wyoming and Utah including Dinosaur National Monument, Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Botanical Garden and Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.
In 1848 flocks of California Gulls miraculously appeared eating swarms of crickets that were devouring Mormon crops and saved the crops. Mormons called this event “The Miracle of the Gulls”. A statue of the gull was erected on Temple Square to commemorate this miracle. The California Gull is the state bird of Utah.
The Mormon Cricket - female
The cricket that attacked the Mormon crops were hatching when we were driving through Dinosaur National Monument. They covered the road in three areas we drove through. Note: these are not actually crickets, but members of the katydid family resembling fat grasshoppers that cannot fly.
A large hatch covering the highway at one of areas we drove through.