[Birdtalk] Cache Co. RB Merg, etc.

[Ryan O'Donnell]

I took a quick loop around the valley today, starting on the Utah State
University campus with the celebrity WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS.  Jason was
there less than 15 minutes before me but the Red Crossbills are
apparently avoiding me this year.  When I arrived, only 2 White-wingeds
were still there.  Over the next hour they were joined by about 40 more
WWCR, but no Reds.
 
>From USU I went to the Logan Landfill to study the gulls, but the road
was too muddy for my car to manage so I had to abandon that plan.
Cutler Reservoir at Benson Marina is now mostly open water, and had over
20 Common Mergansers plus one adult male RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.  These
will be somewhat common soon, but this is my first of the year and is a
full month ahead of last year's first.  I also scoped ~2000 Canada Geese
at Sam Fellow Road, but couldn't find any rare ones.  I did see two
SANDHILL CRANES here, possibly the same ones reported elsewhere by
Reinhardt and Jason.
 
Here are a few photos of the USU White-winged Crossbills, if you're not
sick of this beautiful bird yet:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR6sm.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR5sm.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR4sm.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR3sm.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR2sm.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n105/Tsirtalis/WWCR1sm.jpg
 
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://200birds.blogspot.com