[Birdtalk] Lapland Longspurs & Snow Buntings at Bear River Refuge

[Betsy_Beneke at fws.gov]

Hi All,

I took a little "jaunt" out to the refuge between 11:30 am and 2:00 p.m.
today.  Was THRILLED to come upon a flock of about 50 SNOW BUNTINGS with a
few LAPLAND LONGSPURS mixed in!  They were on the north leg of the auto
tour route loop, picking grit along the south shoulder of the road, and I
was able to watch them for several minutes at about 50 feet.  They
eventually flushed and flew out on the flats in Unit 2 to the south, out of
binocular range, but could be seen moving about on the ground, in and out
of the edges of the weeds.  My odometer said 14.8 miles from the end of the
wildlife education center driveway to this spot, but it's probably closer
to 14.5 or 14.6 miles, as I was messing around a bit along the way.  This
spot was also about 2/10 of a mile before you start into the S curves.  I'd
been seeing lots of horned larks today, so I could have easily bypassed
this flock...glad I didn't!  I always bird with my window open, and the
different call notes also tipped me off.

I recorded a total of 28 species today - all along the county road going
out to the refuge, and around the tour route loop.

Canada Goose (1)
Tundra Swan (1)
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle (1)
Northern Harrier - lots
Rough-legged Hawk (10-15 different birds)
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon (1 - just west of the wildlife education center)
American Coot
Common Raven
Horned Lark (200+)
European Starling
American Pipit
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Sparrow


Betsy Beneke
Outdoor Recreation Planner
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
2155 West Forest Street
Brigham City UT  84302
435.734.6436  office
http://bearriver.fws.gov

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