[Birdnet] Waterbird Count

[Bridget_Olson at fws.gov]

Waterbird/Raptor Count
6/26/06

Total number of ducks (15,000) well below long-term average of about 44,000
though similar to counts from the last two years at this time.  Oddball
common goldeneye and red-breasted merganser (within tour loop).  Total
number of shorebirds of about 9,000 lower than average of 28,000.  First
southbound migrant shorebirds observed: dowitcher, greater and lesser
yellowlegs, concentrating willet, and Wilson's phalarope.  Many of the
marsh birds appear to have had a very successful breeding season as the
young have left the nest inflating the count which results in new June peak
Refuge records for pied-billed grebe, double-crested cormorant, great
egret, and California gull.

Though only 12% of birds were seen from the Tour Loop, Western and Clark's
grebes with young are readily seen as well as eared grebe and Forster's
Terns on nests made of mounded sago pondweed.  Bring your binoculars and
spotting scope as their nests are in the middle of the wetland units on the
tour loop.

Update on the Marbled Godwits that were captured in mid-April and received
satellite transmitters:  1 bird remains around Last Mountain Lake south of
Regina, Saskatchewan and the other is still in Alberta north of Medicine
Hat.  They both departed the Great Salt Lake around the 1st of May and are
apparently on breeding territories in Canada.  We are hoping to discover if
they return to the GSL in the fall or other locations as well as where they
go in Mexico to winter.

Canada Goose            1136
Mallard                 3785
Pintail                 2051
GW Teal           297
BW Teal           4
Cinnamon Teal           2370
Shoveler          1106
Gadwall           2853
Wigeon                  10
Canvasback        244
Redhead           1533
Common goldeneye  1
Red-breasted Mergan.    1
Ring-necked Duck  1
Ruddy duck        1
Pied-billed Grebe 39
Eared Grebe       555
Western Grebe           454
Clark's Grebe           283
AW Pelican        1116
DC Cormorant            1214
Great Blue Heron  180
Great Egret       23
Snowy Egret       119
Cattle Egret            3
BC Night Heron          39
WF Ibis                 6085
Snowy Plover            2
Killdeer                14
BN Stilt                2143
American Avocet   2035
Willet                  11
Spotted Sandpiper 10
Greater Yellowlegs      2
Lesser yellowlegs 2
LB Curlew         4
Marbled Godwit          4122
Dowitcher         1
Wilson's Phalarope      378
Franklin's gull         3084
RB Gull                 43
California Gull         7588
Caspian Tern            86
Forster's Tern          341
Virginia Rail           3
Sora              2
Coot              5868
Short-eared Owl   1


Bridget Olson
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
Wildlife Biologist
2155 West Forest St.
Brigham City, UT  84302
Phone: 435/734-6433