The New Farmington Bay

[HughJanG at aol dot com]

Gary Grubb and I ducked into the Farmington Bay Refuge Saturday and were
startled to see new vistas. Of the four great old dead trees which hosted
countless eagles and other raptors over the years three are now blown over
by recent wind storms.  Where the lake once was (and will be again
someday) there are now awesome expanses of green. It is amazing how fast
salt tolerant plants have grown back to fill the watery void.

Earlier in the day a Salt Lake Audubon group traveled out across the
causeway and on to Garr Ranch.  Along the way there were abundant
sanderlings, western sandpipers and marbled godwits. The group was joined
by a couple from Vancouver doing a western states birding trip and they
were delighted to add chukars, burrowing owls and a long eared owl to
their trip list. The latter was found after great diligence and very sharp
eyes by Ed Leite, our group leader.  Location: a cottonwood branch in the
middle of the dense growth east of the ranch buildings. Say's phoebes,
yellow-rumped warblers and kinglets were also easy to spot on the grounds.
And back to the lake, where is it??? I have never seen the lake so low and
such extensive brown acres between the island and the mainland. The
drought reigns!  And despite our president's doubts my thoughts keep
turning to global warming.

Good birding, Hugh Gillilan

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