SURF SCOTER at Salt Air and more...

[Tim Avery <tanager at timaverybirding dot com>]

Today I decided to run the Salt Lake County Shorebird Route, modified for post
shorebird migration. (ie: not looking for shorebirds).  First off the most
important sighting:

Along the North Jetty of Salt Air Marina I managed to pick out a juvenile Surf
Scoter about 200 yards north of the mouth where the Marina meets the Lake.  The
bird was  mixed in with a flock of several hundred Eared Grebe, a dozen or so
Lesser Scaup and Common Goldeneye.  I RECOMMEND A SCOPE TO LOOK FOR THIS BIRD!
The biggest problem that may occur is that from the south shore heading north
into the lake are 25,000+ Eared Grebe, plus numerous Scaup and other ducks.
There is a good chance there could be other birds, but without a scope you can
only see birds immediately within view of the Jetty.

I believe that for the next couple months after storms it might be worth
checking the waters near the Jetty for anything out of the ordinary just for
the fact of how similair it is to many coastal areas of the northwest.  It is
probably the single most accesible area near Salt Lake to find birds that are
normally found along the coast.

Also of interest at Salt Air was a single Rock Wren working its way along the
North Jetty.

But theres more...

I started off the day by visiting Decker Lake where there was quite a bit of
bird activity:

17 Lesser Yellowlegs
23 Killdeer
Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Mallard and Gadwall
Canada Goose
California Gull
White-crowned Sparrow...  and all the regular city birds.

Next I headed to Lee Kay Ponds to see about the Goose and Gull situation.  As
for geese... NONE.  Gull son the other hand were covering the pond furthest to
the west.  Among the thousands of California Gulls, were at least 4 RING-BILLED
GULLS, and two very aggresive juvenile HERRING GULL.  The most dissappointing
part of the day was what I thought might have a been 2nd Winter MEW GULL, that
flew off over the dump before I could positively make an ID.

Next it was to Salt Air which I already talked about so on to Warm Springs
Ponds.  At Warm Spring I was excited to see 2 CACKLING GEESE.  My first for the
county.  At Warm Springs there were maybe 3-4 dozen Canda Geese, along with the
2 individual Cackling.  There was also one Lesser Yellowlegs present, and a few
Northern Shoverlers.

Quite a day of birding, and the storms have definately got the birds moving.  On
the return to Sugarhouse, I again spotted the MERLIN near Fairmont Park this
time on the norhtside of I-80 in a tree in the park.

Good Birding

Tim

Salt Lake City, UT or Beloit, WI
http://www.timaverybirding.com

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