[Birdtalk] Promontory Birds

[birderbetsy at comcast.net]

Hi All,

Bridget Olson and I did the Promontory Bald Eagle Survey on Friday, January 12.  Our route starts at the bridge over the Bear River near Corinne and continues out Hwy. 83 and then follows the road out around Promontory Point.  Here's what we recorded for raptors:

Adult bald eagle = 10
Juv. bald eagle = 2
Juv. golden eagle = 2
Northern harrier = 36
Red-tailed hawk = 2
Rough-legged hawk = 5
American kestrel = 5
Prairie falcon = 2

Golden eagles were seen only on the Promontory Road.  Bald eagles were seen by the bridge near Corinne and on Promontory Road.  Harriers, red-tails, rough-legs and kestrels, seen throughout the route.  Prairie falcons only on the Promontory Road.

Other birds noted included:
Lots of ducks and geese around the Thiokol Ranch area, where there's quite a bit of open water - including a couple of snow geese.  Nothing rare - Canada goose, mallard, pintail, wigeon, gadwall mostly.  A single great blue heron was shivering.

Many, many JUNCOS - all along the Promontory Road.  We flushed a little flock of CHUKARS - always fun to see them fly - I usually see them running!  Little flocks of up to 8 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS several places along the Promontory Road.  Also red-winged blackbirds and western meadowlarks there too.  We really didn't spend much time looking at the songbird species.

One of the perks of working for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is that every once in a while, I get paid to go bird watching!  And I REALLY like birding the Promontory Road.  There's always lots of birds to see out there.

Betsy Beneke
Bear River Refuge
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