[Birdtalk] 21Oct07-Lakefront: AGPL, HOGR, MERL, HEGU

[Tim Avery]

This morning (10/21) I was joined by Steve Sommerfeld, Sylvia Gray, Dave
Hanscom,  June Ryburn, Karen Marshall and Cecilia Sayer (of Sacramento) for a
Great Salt Lake Audubon field trip.  We first headed to the causeway, hit Garr
Ranch, stopped by Kaysville Ponds, Glover Lane, and then Farmington Bay WMA to
end the day.  It was a cold start to the morning, with the front having passed,
the skies were clear, and there was a steady 5-10 mph "breeze" at the causeway.
 Below are highlights and notes from today.

Sugarhouse Parking Lot @ I-80 and 1300 East
 Number of species:     9

 American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     2
 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula     2
 Dark-eyed Junco - Junco hyemalis     4

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Antelope Island  Causeway
 Number of species:     32
Perhaps the biggest surprise was a large flock of GREEN-WINGED TEAL on the north
side of the causeway numbering in the thousands.  On approach to the causeway a
"prairie race" MERLIN was seen along Antelope Drive about a 1/2 mile before the
entrance.  Between MM4-5 an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER was with a flock of Least
and Western Sandpiper that also sported a few BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS.  A single
Bonaparte's Gull flew by near the curve, and several HERRING GULL were fighting
over food with the California Gulls out on the lake just to the west of the
curve.

 Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca     8000
 Merlin - Falco columbarius     1
 American Golden-Plover - Pluvialis dominica     1
 Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa     13
 Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri     103
 Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla     90
 Baird's Sandpiper - Calidris bairdii     5
 Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus     250
 Bonaparte's Gull - Larus philadelphia     1
 Herring Gull - Larus argentatus     4

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Antelope Island
Number of species:     15

 Golden Eagle - Aquila chrysaetos     2
 Loggerhead Shrike - Lanius ludovicianus     1
 Townsend's Solitaire - Myadestes townsendi     1

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Antelope Island - Garr Ranch
 Number of species:     17
Pretty slow day at the ranch.  Sylvia spotted the lone warbler.

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula     8
 Townsend's Solitaire - Myadestes townsendi     2
 Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus     6
 Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata     1
 Spotted Towhee - Pipilo maculatus     2
 American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis     1

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Kaysville Ponds
Number of species:     11

 Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata     1

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End of Glover Lane, Davis County
 Number of species:     11
The tern came out of the south did a loop around the pond and dove at least once
before heading off to the SW.  Getting pretty late for any Sterna.

 Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris     2
 Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri     1

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Farmington Bay WMA
 Number of species:     36
Thousand's of dabbling ducks were on the resting unit, mostly Pintail, Gadwall
and Wigeon.  Spending some time scanning through the flock we were able to pick
out a number of Ruddy Duck and quite a few Bufflehead.  Six HORNED GREBE were
spread out along the length of the pond,as well as a few Clark's Grebe.  Both
species of yellowlegs were also observed.

 Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola     75
 Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis     20
 Horned Grebe - Podiceps auritus     6
 Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis     2
 Western Grebe - Aechmophorus occidentalis     2
 Clark's Grebe - Aechmophorus clarkii     3
 Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca     1
 Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes     3


Parts of this report were generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Cheers

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