Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Common Gallinule
Scientific name:	[Gallinula galeata]
Date:	5/29/24
Time:	9:45am
Length of time observed:	20 seconds
Number:	1
Age:	assumed adult
Sex:
Location:	east-southeast end of Sand Hollow Reservoir
County:	Washington
Latilong:
Elevation:	~2800 ft
Distance to bird:	~80 yards
Optical equipment:	Swarovski 42x8.5
Weather:	clear, warm, calm
Light Conditions:	bright sunshine, directly behind me, with dark lake surface ahead (perfect)
Description: Size of bird:	About same as nearby coots
(Description:) Basic Shape:	About same as nearby coots
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Overall dark with conspicuous candy corn colored bill; conspicuous white in tail, white along sides near waterline
(Description:) Bill Type:	Coot-like but colorful
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Appeared near same size and dark bodied like a coot, with similar head-pumping action when swimming. Candy corn colored bill most diagnostic, along with conspicuous white in tail.
Song or call & method of delivery:	Silent
Behavior:	Swimming with distinctive head-pumping action like a coot
Habitat:	Reed grasses and flooded willows(?) in shallows on Sand Hollow's southeast side high-water shoreline. A few scattered young cottonwoods also in the shallows and some medium-size tamarisk and other scrub further in from the shore.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	Elimination: Coot was the only other viable candidate, given the habitat, the head-pumping action when swimming, and the fact that other coots were present and simultaneously visible. The bill color and conspicuous white in the tail immediately eliminated coot as a possibility.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	I was with Alex Harper being forced to intentionally observe and study and compare coots and gallinules at Henderson (NV) Bird Viewing Center last January. He explained, for instance, why the distinctive head-pumping action when swimming. I've observed numbers of gallinules in southern Spain and other European locales.
References consulted:	National Geo field guide
Description from:	From memory
Observer:	Paul Hicks
Observer's address:	1630 E 2450 So #26, St George 84790
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	None
Date prepared:	5/30/24
Additional material:
Additional comments:	I recognized this bird immediately -- pleased but not particularly surprised. I d been hearing suspicious vocalizations from the flooded foliage in the shallows for weeks but could only ID coots and Pied-billed Grebes. Having seen a fair number of gallinules with coots at Henderson, NV, in January, at the time I wondered, Why not in St George? Location: Southeast (or east-southeast) end of Sand Hollow Reservoir, toward the shore from the No Admittance sign at the end of vehicular access on the back side of Sand Hollow beyond the end of the asphalt. The open channel is between the primitive Eastside Campground and the line of cottonwoods along the shore northward. Other birds present besides coots and PB Grebes: GT Grackle, RW & YH Blackbird, Yellow Warbler, Bullock's Oriole, plus a Common Loon continuing to hang out in shallows and Eared Grebes farther out. *In a previous report for LEAST BITTERN I said the location was the south side, but in checking the map it was southeast side of the reservoir.