Spring on the south shore of GSL

I haven’t heard too much about south end birds, so I thought you might like to know that spring has sprung down here. I had around 12 American Avocets on the ISSR yesterday as well as the welcoming, consistent call of killdeer. They were all decked out in their mating plumage already.

There may be a pair of golden eagles building a nest on the KSL small tower (east side). They’ve been there for around a month and there are twigs hanging down. But ravens seem to be constantly harassing them – it will be interesting to see who perseveres. I also saw a male harrier doing loop-de-loops trying to impress the ladies. I haven’t seen a Rough-legged hawk for a week. I did see a sandhill crane fly over – it looked like it was headed straight for Farmington Bay (humph).

Geese are all paired up and acting sneaky. Ducks abound: pintail, shoveler, cinnamon and green-winged teal, wigeon, gadwall, mallard and common goldeneye have really started to raft up. Meadowlarks are singing away and marsh wrens chatter non-stop. There are sparrows, but they never let me see them and I need help with their calls. Saw a gull with REALLY red legs – didn’t stick around long enough to i.d. – about the size of a Caspian tern, but a gull. Hmmmm.

I looked on the shoreline as I drove west from the ISSR to SaltAir, but didn’t see much out there. Maybe this storm will blow more birds our way. Mostly gulls in the ponds near I-80 and SaltAir, a few goldeneye – the ponds finally have water in them – they haven’t for the last 2 years. I didn’t get out to the marina to see if their pond had any water.

All the best birding,

Ann Neville

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