[Birdtalk] Gosling, etc. in Logan and Hyrum, Cache Co.

[Ryan O'Donnell]

I took a quick study break yesterday evening and tonight.  (I'm addicted
to birds!)  Last night at First Dam in Logan there were two goslings.
That's right, two downy baby geese.  I'm not sure I can confidently ID
them that young, but my guess was that they belonged to one of the
"domestic" Greylag or Swan Geese that are always found there.  Both had
recently been attacked by gulls according to what a bystander told me,
who was holding one of them waiting for Animal Control to come help.
The gosling that was still on the water had a visible wound on its head
and did not seem to be associating with any parent.  I was surprised to
see young so early - I don't know if this is a normal date for hatchling
geese or if these are weird because of their domestic history.  There
were also many Barrow's and Common Goldeneye avidly courting one
another, which was fun to watch.
 
Tonight I went to Hyrum Reservoir to look for Common Loons.  Seeing all
the Red-breasted Mergansers there made me feel silly for getting so
excited by three of them earlier this week - I'd guess there were 40 or
50 on the Reservoir today.  Also seen there were hundreds of gulls,
maybe thousands, and hundreds of scaup which I'm sure were each hiding
some goodies but were too far away for me to really search through in
the waning light.  Here's my complete list for about a half hour at the
Reservoir:
 
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
American Wigeon
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback 
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow 
Mountain Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
 
Good birding,
Ryan
 
Ryan P. O'Donnell
Department of Biology and the Ecology Center
Utah State University
5305 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-5305
 
http://home.comcast.net/~tsirtalis/