[Birdtalk] Salt Lake CBC--some results

[Tim Avery]

Yesterday was the Salt Lake Christmas Bird Count.  Colby Neuman, Carl
Ingwell, Jeff Bilsky and I took on the Airport and the Bountiful Quadrants
for the day.  The count total for the entire CBC topped 100 species despite
several HUGE misses including Steller's Jay, Red Crossbill and Red-breasted
Nuthatch (among other usual species).  We started out the day at the Salt
Lake International Center where a House Sparrow with partially leucistic
wings greeted us near the Perkins Restaurant on Admiral Byrd Drive.
Highlights from the IC included a beautiful prairie MERLIN that flew over
and landed nearby at the intersection of Earhart and Lindbergh.  Jeff ended
up joining us a few minutes late, and thankfully because of that we picked
up 3 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES near the Phillips 66 station on Earhart which he
found while waiting for us to pick him up. 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 3
American Pipit, a Downy Woodpecker, and an American Tree Sparrow were also
seen among the regular wintering species here.

Next we headed over to the Salt Lake International Airport to get onto the
Blackhawk Duck Club where some of the best birding on the count is.  Driving
along the airport perimeter along the Jordan River we had pretty much every
species of waterfowl you could imagine, including 1 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, 14
Canvasback, several Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck and 2 CINNAMON TEAL.  Large
flocks of ducks were seen flying over head including a flock of nearly 1,500
Northern Pintail.  As we were making our way to the north end of one of the
canals that off shoots the river, an Airport Police vehicle approached and
turned on its lights. Despite taking the precautions we were told to and
calling the airport in advance we were escorted to the main road where we
spent 40 minuted being questioned, having our our drivers licensed checked,
and vehicle searched.  After all the 4 guys birding form Utah fit the
terrorist profile so well.  Hopefully next year someone from the airport
Will do their job correctly and not waste our time.

In any event after losing the large chunk of time, we headed back to the
duck club where the combination that Colby had didn't work.  It was turning
out to be one of those days.  We headed back towards the airport, picking up
Wilson's Snipe along the river and went to Wingpointe Golf Course where we
had our second MERLIN of the day, which posed nicely for photos:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=556&page=1&sort=nd

Heading back to the International Center, Carl and I dropped Colby and Jeff
off at another entrance to the duck club.  They hiked in while we went out
to cover some more ground.  We also slipped away to Lee Kay Ponds for a
minute to go through a flock of about 2,000 gulls on the ice.  Despite being
close to the road and there being a slit of open water, the only goodies we
could find were 2 first winter THAYER'S GULLS (including a very pale bird)
and a few Herring Gull.  At about the time we were going to leave the pond
Colby called to inform us that they had come across a seep where they
counted 11 Virginia Rails!!!  But the real treat was a SWAMP SPARROW!   I
can't beleive I traded Thayer's Gull for missing a new county bird.. Oh
well.

We went back and got Colby and Jeff and headed back along the airport
perimeter to try another entrance to the duck club.  This one worked and we
made our way in.  A number of pheasants were seen as well as a few raptors,
and around 30 American Tree Sparrows. The coolest thing we saw was perhaps
the imprint in the snow left by a landing pheasant:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=556&page=1&sort=nd

 It was getting late so we decided to split up leaving Colby to look for a
few remaining species in the area, Jeff and I went to Bountiful going first
to the cemetery where there wer 50 AMERICAN CROWS, and a nice adult Cooper's
Hawk.  Heading up onto the bench and into Meuller Park it was DEAD.  We had
one Black-capped Chickadee, 1 Bald Eagle, 1 flyover Cedar Waxwing, several
flyover flocks of Robins, and a lone calling GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET.  It was
bitterly cold in the park and after spending plenty of time imitating
Saw-whet and Pygmy-Owls, we gave up and headed back down.  The sun was
setting and Colby called to inform us he picked up Tundra Swan.  Jeff went
to check out a field for owls at dusk (with no luck), and with that we
called it a day, tallying just over 60 species as a group.  Not bad
considering some of the misses we had, and the bitter temps!

Good Birding

Tim
http://www.timaverybirding.com
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