Amalga Barrens Sanctuary birds

["Stephen Peterson" <cllslp at msn dot com>]

I just completed my 3 day survey of the Amalga Barrens this morning.

 

The highlight birds included:

Red-necked phalaropes - I observed 12 of these birds in their non-breeding plumage for about 5 minutes, after they landed in the slough water along with some avocets.

A single short-eared owl that I spooked from the side of the road north of the property.

A lone peregrine falcon, located in the same spot as the one I saw on 7-15-05.

 

All other species were the usual. I am seeing many more northern harriers lately, including a beautiful male, dusted blue on top, black wingtips contrasted against the white underneath.

 

There is a twin pair of juvenile red-tailed hawks hanging out and quite a few kestrels.

 

The avocets are showing up  in larger numbers, most in their white and black winter plumage.

 

I have seen many juvenile marsh wrens, black-crowned night heron and 4 juvenile great blue herons.

 

Overall, number of species is down as well as numbers of individuals, but I am counting on alot of migrating birds to start stopping by in the next couple of weeks.

 

I have enjoyed seeing the northern leopard frogs. They are harder to catch than you might think! I also found a small toad, about 1 1/2" long. I have decided that it must be a Great Basin spadefoot toad. Very cool. Lots of wandering gartersnakes in the area, making good eats for the harriers and herons. I also ran across a couple of striped skunks, a doe mule deer and a red fox. Its an absolute zoo out there!

 

Here is the complete list from all 3 days:

 








Common Name
08/22/05
08/23/05
08/24/05

American White Pelican
 
6
8

Great Blue Heron
 
6
2

Double-crested Cormorant
1
 
1

Black-crowned Night Heron
1
2
1

White-faced Ibis
10
3
7

Canada Goose
16
2
 

Green-winged Teal
6
6
 

Northern Pintail
 
 
1

Cinnamon Teal
119
37
31

Northern Shoveler
3
2
 

Gadwall
81
43
17

Redhead
 
19
 

Mallard
 
1
6

Ruddy Duck
 
 
1

Turkey Vulture
1
 
 

Northern Harrier
3
3
6

Swainson's Hawk
2
3
 

Red-tailed Hawk
3
2
5

American Kestrel
4
6
3

Peregrine Falcon
 
 
1

American Coot
6
5
3

Sandhill Crane
4
11
 

Killdeer
 
 
1

American Avocet
50
44
78

Red-necked Phalarope
 
 
12

Ring-billed Gull
 
5
4

California Gull
 
2
 

Forster's Tern
1
1
 

Short-eared Owl
 
 
1

Tree Swallow
 
8
12

Cliff Swallow
 
 
2

Barn Swallow
8
13
17

Marsh Wren
16
32
22

Savannah Sparrow
4
6
6

Western Meadowlark
1
1
3

Yellow-headed Blackbird
11
19
17

Brown-headed Cowbird
 
 
4

Unidentified Ducks
 
12
60

Unidentified Sandpipers
 
 
15

Unidentified Gulls
 
2
 

TOTAL INDIVIDUALS
351
302
347

TOTAL SPECIES
0")'>22
0")'>27
0")'>28

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Time started
830 am
710 am
715 am

Time stop
1045 am
1000 am
950 am

 

Looking forward to meeting some of you at the Utah Ornithological Society conference here in Logan, September 16-18.

 

Stephen Peterson




_______________________________________________

"Utah Birds" web site: http://www.utahbirds.org
     BirdTalk:
To subscribe, e-mail:  birdtalk-subscribe@utahbirds.org
To unsubscribe, e-mail:  birdtalk-unsubscribe@utahbirds.org
To send a message, e-mail:  birdtalk@utahbirds.org
_________________________________________________