[Birdtalk] Utah Lake birds, last Sunday and today

[Lu Giddings]

I visited the south end of Utah Lake last Sunday and Provo Airport dike
and Utah Lake State Park this afternoon.  While it has been several days
since Sunday (I'm a slacker, what can I say?), there are still several
observations worth noting.

The lake appears to be about 18"-24" lower than it was at the beginning
of September. Water fowl numbers are extremely low, although they may be
hiding in the vegetation. Most peeps and waders seem also to have
disappeared from the south end of the lake. Having said this, this
afternoon there were roughly a thousand shorebirds on the mud flats in
the southeast corner of the Airport Dikes area, just beyond the first
big bend to the southwest. A large number of the birds appeared to be
long-billed dowitchers, but there were also greater yellowlegs, lesser
yellowlegs, willets, American avocets, two marbled godwits, and a
killdeer in the group, along with five green-winged teal, a cinnamon
teal  (I think), and some coots. I did not see any peeps smaller than
the killdeer and the lesser yellowlegs in this group. During the time I
observed the birds they separated into a number of smaller flocks and
coalesced into one or two big flocks repeatedly so counting was very
difficult (how do you do it, Bridget?!) but in individual groups I
counted 37 lesser yellowlegs, 68 American avocet, and 153 long-billed
dowitchers, which does not account for misidentification, birds not
seen, birds present in other smaller groups, or lone individuals. I did
not observe any stilt sandpipers but could easily have missed one, were
it present. There were also a small number of birds which may have been
short-billed dowitchers but between the wind, the rain, the dust, the
constant movement of the birds, and a lack of experience with the
species, it would be potentially misleading to state this definitively.

Two merlins were seen this afternoon. A light-phased individual was seen
in a the top of a mostly dead tree just beyond the "U" in the dike road,
where it again travels in SSW direction, at about 41.21 N lat 111.72W
long. A dark-phased individual was seen in a tree above the restroom
near the boat ramp on the North Jetty Road at the State Park. While
birding along this road a few minutes later a merlin was seen repeatedly
but I never got a good enough look at it to tell if it was the same dark
bird seen earlier or yet another individual.

Grebes are still abundant at the lake. Both Clarks and western grebes
were seen this afternoon. On Sunday only Clark's grebes were seen at the
south end of the lake. For some reason, after several years of
observation it seems to me that Clark's grebes show up several weeks
earlier and depart several weeks later than western grebes at the south
end of the lake. Three of the south-end Clark's grebes were in the
company of juvenile birds which appeared to be only 3-4 weeks of age.

No terns were seen today but about 75 Caspian terns were seen at various
points along the lake between Lincoln Beach and LeBaron point on Sunday.
The largest single group had roughly 45 individuals.

Swallows were present by the thousands today, and also on Sunday. Most
appeared to be barn swallows, but a few tree swallows, bank swallows,
and violet-green swallows were also observed.

Finally. The South Jetty Road in the State Park is closed for an
indeterminate period of time for construction.

Lu Giddings

Total Count: 45 species
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Snowy Egret
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Marbled Godwit
Long-billed Dowitcher
Ring-billed Gull
Californian Gull
Caspian Tern
Northern Flicker
Black-billed Magpie
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird