[Birdtalk] Bonaparte's Gulls West of Willard Bay

[Kristin Purdy]

Is it winter gull season already? I saw nine BONAPARTE'S GULLS fully in winter plumage west of Willard Bay this morning. These birds must spend only about a minute and a half in breeding plumage. Not one showed even a hint of a black hood. 

I don't usually think of Bonaparte's Gulls until October or November. It was a big surprise when one came walking through my scope view while I was studying something else. But I doubt the gulls are early. I think the insight the fabulous habitat west of Willard Bay is providing us will reveal more patterns if we continue to keep an eye on it at this time of year. 

I have a theory that lots of "surprise" birds migrate through the thin strip of freshwater and brackish marshes on the east side of the lake, but because we can't access most of those wetlands in August, the broader community of birders haven't detected the patterns. Once again today I saw hundreds of Black Terns, albeit on a mud bar at an extreme distance. I had no idea that Black Terns passed through Box Elder County, and then likely Weber, Davis, and Salt Lake in such significant numbers. 

Last year during the Parasitic Jaeger frenzy, David Wheeler reported 21 GREAT EGRETS from the area. I stopped counting Great Egrets when I got to 30 on my last trip and today's numbers were similar. (They were also at an extreme distance.) The Great Egret is classified as a rare summer resident and a rare transient. I wouldn't expect to see 30 in a day in Utah--maybe in Louisiana. 

Why are these numbers of uncommon birds a surprise? We can get into very few of the marshes along the eastern side of the lake at this time of year. I've never seen hundreds of migrating Black Terns or tens of Great Egrets before because I've rarely been in their habitat in August. It exists just a handful of miles away. 

Thank goodness for Arnold and Aaron Smith's reporting of the Common Terns west of Willard Bay last September and the Sommerfeld's follow-up discovery of the Parasitic Jaeger. Those two reports drew many birders to that wetland and led to these new discoveries. 

When these thoughts occured to me I was looking over the marsh and open water. I cynically wondered if someone was going to decide this marsh was too good to allow public access anymore, and then corral it behind a fence and a locked gate like most of the others are. 

There. Now that I got that off my chest, I feel better. 

Plenty of the Black Terns also coursed over the water close enough to see well and had landed on spits or on a mudflat in a mixed tern/gull flock. That mixed flock included Franklin's, Ring-billed, and California Gulls; Forster's Terns, and a lone juvenile Caspian Tern. At about 11:30, a fringe of the flock started running and took flight, and then the rest of the flock boiled up off the ground. I started scanning for the dark one--any dark one--a harrier, a Peregrine, a jaeger.

The catalyst for the flight was a Peregrine Falcon. The bird powered in from the south on strong, slashing wingbeats and coursed low over the fleeing gulls and terns. They billowed away as the falcon cut low and then it strafed a flock of about 75 dowitchers. But the Peregrine must not have been hungry; it did not make a serious stoop on even one bird. The falcon banked and they returned south on swift wings. Surely, this bird was just playing with the flocks of water birds that had scattered at its approach. What a mischief-maker. 

Other water birds out there today include:

Canada Geese
Brown Ducks, Brown Ducks, Brown Ducks
Pied-billed Grebes
Eared Grebes
Western Grebes
American White Pelicans
Double-crested Cormorants
Great Blue Herons
Snowy Egrets
White-faced Ibis
Osprey
American Coots
Sandhill Cranes (audible, very distant)
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilts
American Avocets
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpipers
Marbled Godwits
Western Sandpipers
Wilson's Phalaropes

To reach the area west of Willard Bay, take I-15 exit 351 and turn west. Drive .2-.3 miles toward Farr West and turn right (west again) on 4000N. at the sign for Willard Bay's South Marina. Drive west (passing the marina road) until 4000N.ends at a "T" intersection. Turn right (north) and then zig north and zag west while generally paralleling Willard Bay's south dike as you proceed west. When you reach the southwest corner of the dike, turn right (north) and note your odometer when you pass the Harold Crane WMA sign. The best marsh habitat is 1 to 1 1/2 miles north of that turn. The road is rough and bouncy. If you're subject to motion sickness, don't eat a big meal before you go and take your Dramamine.

Kris
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