[Birdtalk] 15Nov07-Lakefront(SL): THAYER'S GULL, RLHA, YHBL

[Tim Avery]

I made a loop around the northwest quarter  of Salt Lake County this afternoon,
starting at Decker Lake, before hitting Lee Kay Ponds, Saltair, and the
International Center. I also did a brief survey on private property along the
lake producing 3500 TUNDRA SWAN.

On public property the highlights included a juvenile THAYER'S GULL on the main
pond at Lee Kay.  The bird was near both juvenile California and Herring Gulls
for a nice comparison.  There were3 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS along the frontage road
on the north side of I-80 between 7200 West and Saltair, as well as a single
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK along the dirt road on the northeast side of the IC. A late
and beautiful YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was on the pond just south of the parking
lot at Great Salt Lake State Park/Saltair Marina.  Below are the other birds of
note:

Location:     Decker Lake
Number of species:     17

 Common Merganser - Mergus merganser     1
 Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus     50
 Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca     4
 Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes     2

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Location:     Lee Kay Ponds
Number of species:     23

 Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola     19
 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula     11
 Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator     9
 Herring Gull - Larus argentatus     14
 THAYER'S GULL - Larus thayeri     1

---------------------------------------------------------------

Location:     Salt Air Marina
Number of species:     11

 Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca     1
 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula     2
 Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis     10000
 Northern Harrier - Circus cyaneus     1
 Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis     8
 Herring Gull - Larus argentatus     1
 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus     1
  http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/yhbl_01.jpg

---------------------------------------------------------------

Location:     Salt Lake International Center
Number of species:     14

 Northern Harrier - Circus cyaneus     1
 Rough-legged Hawk - Buteo lagopus     1
  http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/rlha_01.jpg
 Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis     10
  http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/rbgu_00.jpg
 American Pipit - Anthus rubescens     3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

I also saw several Red-winged Blackbird and around 45 American Goldfinch along
the frontage road that were very photogenic:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/rwbl_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/amgo_01.jpg

Cheers

Tim
Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.timavery.com