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I benefited from the efforts of two
seeing-eye birders at Antelope Island Causeway today. If you're like me,
just get up late and go birding to the same destination that Jack Binch and
Bob Parsons select before you do. When you run into them, they'll tell you
about all the good stuff they found and where they found it, and you
can breeze your way through the place.
Jack tipped me off about the Dunlin and
the peeps around mile marker 2. Later, Bob passed ol' slow-poke me and
looped back to tell me he had come across two Dunlins. When I made it to
the spot, there were three. Do you suppose there would have been one more
every time a birder passed that way? Believe it! When I passed by
again on the return trip, there was a fourth Dunlin. The first three
were together and almost completely in breeding plumage. The
fourth one was completely in winter plumage, poking along the shore next
to a spring Dunlin. It was a great opportunity to see the
alternate and basic plumages of the same species as the two birds poked along
together.
I also saw the Western Sandpipers--about 20
total--and the hundreds of Sanderlings Jack mentioned. I missed the Least
Sandpiper; boo-hoo. I didn't find the Horned Grebe Bob told me
about at the north side of the bridge near mm 1, but I later found one
far to the south between mm 1 and 0. The
Horned Grebe associated with a raft of Eared Grebes. Perhaps it
was the same bird Bob found.
Generally speaking, most of the large shorebirds
were far off the Causeway south of mm 5 and 6 as Jack described in a
previous birdtalk post. I had an additional opportunity to see three
or four fly in and land with the hundreds of others that were poking
there. The birds folded their startling black-and-white zebra
wings and then became large, non-descript shorebirds. I
believe most of them were Willets. A few bigger shorebirds sprinkled
throughout the flock were buffier with longer, up-turned bills. Somebody
with a better scope than I have, please get out there and tell us if the big
ones are Marbled Godwits! American Avocets
and Black-necked Stilts also waded along the Causeway or at the
marina.
A pair of Blue-winged Teal kept company with a male
and three female Lesser Scaups north of the Causeway and just east of the first
bend between mm 4 and 3. Other
waterfowl enjoying the lake included Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall, and
Cinnamon Teal. Water birds or waders in the area included American
Pelicans, American Coots, White-faced Ibises, Long-billed Curlews, many
Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants Kris-crossing the surface,
California Gulls, and about a dozen black-headed, rosy-tinged Franklin
Gulls.
Everyone gets excited with first-of-the-year
sightings, right? Well, I saw my first Brown-headed Cowbird of
the year--Woo-hoo! I also saw Brewer's Blackbirds, Western
Meadowlarks, Common Ravens, American Pipits, an American Kestrel, Killdeer, and
Tree, Barn, and Rough-winged Swallows.
It was a good day, and it only took me 5 hours to
breeze my way across the Causeway. Believe it or not, I'm getting
quicker. You, too, can have a good day at Antelope Island Causeway.
Just call Jack and Bob, the seeing-eye birders, and get them to go
out there before you arrive.
Kris
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