[Birdtalk] Wasatch Back Reservoirs

[Kristin Purdy]

I visited four Wasatch Back reservoirs today with mixed results--Jordanelle in Wasatch County, Rockport and Echo in Summit County and East Canyon in Morgan County.

Jordanelle and Echo were not worth the time. Jordanelle was free of ice and nearly free of birds. One interesting sighting there was an avocet flying over the open water, landing and swimming around like a gull does. Echo also had few birds.

Rockport was the best of the lot. Best species included several pairs of BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYES and a leucistic Canada Goose that looked similar to several that Paul Higgins photographed in Davis County last year: http://www.pbase.com/phiggins/image/71781683. Other species included:

Regular Canada Geese
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Killdeer
Many gulls, and I took great pleasure in not looking at them

Most of Rockport's birds were at the inlet (south) end. The Pinery Day Use area is open for the season now and offers a good view with a scope. 

East Canyon offered mostly Common Mergs and Goldeneyes and Mallards. A pair of Cinnamon Teal and Ring-necked Ducks rounded out the list. Nowhere did I see grebes or loons. None of the Osprey platforms at Rockport (four of them) are occupied yet; the one at Echo is still vacant as well. 

Jordanelle Reservoir is located east of exit 8 on US-40. Rockport State Park is located several miles south of I-80 at Wanship, exit 154 (eastbound) or 155 (westbound). Echo Reservoir is located along I-80 between exits 162 and 169. East Canyon is located eight miles southwest of Henefer on SR-65, accessible from I-80 exits 115 (westbound) or 112 (eastbound). 

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20070323/a849017e/attachment.htm