Point of The Mountain from Google Street View

• eBird Checklist
• Flickr Photos

Description:
This side of the mountain is almost entirely private property, comprising mostly of a large gravel pit.  A frontage road follows the mountain from the county line northeast to 14600 South.  The hot spot encompasses everything south and east of these two streets to the county line.  The habitat is mixed grasslands and shrubsteppe, along with some oak woodlands on barren hillsides.  The pit is the dominant feature, and several companies operate along this stretch.  You can pull over at various sites, but in general the road is quite busy.

Birding:
Point of the mountain has traditionally been a good location to look for raptors.  Most birding here happens when winter raptors use the area to look for food.  However, in the last few years massive expansion on both sides of the county line have really seemed to push most of the raptors from the area.  The occasional RED-TAILED HAWK or GOLDEN EAGLE may be seen soaring overhead, while AMERICAN KESTREL and COMMON RAVEN are still common.  The most abundant birds here are starling and pigeons by far.  MERLIN are occasionally seen hunting the area, and HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK have been seen in the past.  During spring and fall migration occasionally large flocks of birds are seen migrating out over the Jordan River.  Flocks of FRANKLIN'S GULL, WHITE-FACED IBIS, SNOW GOOSE, and various other waterfowl have been spotted from here.  Although this isn't a destination birding location, you certainly will pass it and may pick up something new for the area list if you spend a few minutes looking around.

Directions:
From I-15 exit 288 on 14600 south go south and turn right onto the frontage road headed southwest.  The road will hit the Utah County Line in 2.3 miles.