[Birdtalk] Some Utah County Birding - Skipper Bay, Jordan River and Lower Provo River Parkways

[Eric Huish]

Hi all,
I haven't been seeing any fantastic rarities but thought I would post some birding outings incase utah county folks are interested in what is out and about. Or what isn't out and about.
This morning Ned Bixler, Milt Moody and I walked the Skipper Bay Trail - http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/utahco/SkipperBayTrail.htm   The huge flocks of waterfowl have yet to arrive. The fields were still mostly frozen this morning but I'm sure this area will be great in a few weeks. Here is a list of the birds we saw - 
Location: Skipper Bay Trail - Utah Co. UTObservation date: 2/7/09Number of species: 19Canada Goose 56Mallard 53Northern Pintail 14Northern Harrier 1Buteo sp. 1 Distant and in the fog.gull sp. 6 Distant and in the fog.Downy Woodpecker 1Northern Flicker 2Black-billed Magpie 1American Crow 20Black-capped Chickadee 3American Robin 13European Starling 400Spotted Towhee 2Song Sparrow 7White-crowned Sparrow 3Dark-eyed Junco 2Red-winged Blackbird 34House Sparrow 1 Heard OnlyThis report was generated automatically by eBird 
 
----------------------------------------Yvonne and Bart Carter birded the north Utah Lake area this afternoon and saw some birds, including Cinnamon Teal north of the model airplane Field/Jordan River Parkway - http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/utahco/locations.htm#JordanRiverAirfield  I hope they don't mind me forwarding their email along - 
Eric -- Bart and I decided to go around the north end of Utah Lake. We started by the Spring Creek Ranch area. Nothing. But we kept to the roads closest to the lake and came across several Kestrels, a Northern Flicker and several Red Tail Hawks. We parked at the first Inlet Park parking lot just south of the parking lot for the airplane field and just across the road there had been a lot of snow melting so there are a lot of little bodies of water in the area. And immediately across the street from the parking lot were 30+ Ring-neck Ducks, some Cinnamon Teal and of course the usual coots and Mallards. Several Northern Harriers in the area as well. When we parked in the lot by the airplane field, we could hear hundreds and hundreds of Canadian Geese in the surrounding fields. I was disappointed that we didn't see any Eagles in that area. But we decided to drive south on Redwood Rd and just past the main part of Saratoga Springs we saw a 2 year old Eagle by the private marine club and further down about 500 ft was a 3 year old Eagle. So we did get some birding in on this beautiful day. Yvonne Carter
 
------------------------------------A couple weeks late but Matt Mills and I walked the Lower Provo River Parkway between the state park and the oxbow - http://www.utahbirds.org/counties/utahco/LowerProvoRiverParkway.htm  About midway there was a wet field with 11 Snipe and a lone Least Sandpiper.
Location: Lower Provo River Parkway - Utah Co. UTObservation date: 1/24/09Number of species: 18Mallard 20Common Goldeneye 4Sharp-shinned Hawk 1American Coot 30Least Sandpiper 1 In flooded field with the snipe.Wilson's Snipe 11gull sp. 2Downy Woodpecker 4Northern Flicker 1Black-billed Magpie 3Black-capped Chickadee 4Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1American Robin 3European Starling 1 Heard OnlySpotted Towhee 5Song Sparrow 1 Heard OnlyWhite-crowned Sparrow 1Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 3This report was generated automatically by eBird  Eric Huish Pleasant Grove UT poorwill_ at hotmail.com 801-360-8777     
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20090207/3b218e42/attachment.htm