[Birdtalk] 73 Raptors, N. Shrike etc. around Utah Lake Jan. 17/09

[Matt Mills]

Yesterday, Jan 17, Eric Huish, Robbie Edgel and I did a loop around Utah Lake beginning at ending at Provo Towne Center Mall in Provo. 

We started out by birding East Bay and the surrounding area. At East Bay we couldn't find any shorebirds, but there were several GREEN-WINGED TEAL, many AMERICAN COOTS, NORTHERN SHOVELER, a few NORTHERN PINTAIL, GADWALL,  and AMERICAN WIGEON, and a single REDHEAD. Also here was a beautiful rufous looking dark morph RED-TAILED HAWK (raptor #1). 

We then drove west through Springville, around the north end of West Mountain, stopped at Warm Springs Wildlife Management Area, birded a bit in the Goshen Bay area, then drove along the west side of the lake to Saratoga Springs, birded a bit at Willow Park and Lehi area before heading back to Provo on I-15. 

We saw almost 50 species with highlights as follows:

- an imm. NORTHERN SHRIKE, west of West Mountain and south of Lincoln Point

- 15 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS at Warm Springs Wildlife Mgmt Area 
(Also here were many, many AMERICAN ROBINS, a few YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET among others)

- a lone KILLDEER near Saratoga Springs



- 73 Raptors of 7 species, including:

14 RED-TAILED HAWKS (including one very black dark morph)

27 AMERICAN KESTRELS

1 MERLIN (near Lincoln Beach)

6 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (including one we watched snag a pocket gopher off the snow with one swoop of one foot)

6 NORTHERN HARRIERS (3 ad. males, 1 ad. female, 2 imm.)

2 GOLDEN EAGLES (1 ad.)

13 BALD EAGLES (5 adults, 2 apparent juveniles, 6 subadults)
(6 Bald Eagles were in Goshen Bay area, several more along the west side of the lake, and 2 more were near Willow Park)

We also had 4 distant Unidentified Raptors that we guessed were 2 RTHA, 1 GOEA, and 1 RLHA. Unfortunately we couldn't scare up any accipiters, Ferruginous Hawks, or Prairie Falcons.

Cheers,

Matt Mills
Provo
mattymills2005 at yahoo.com