Farmington Bay and AIC

[bcurrie100 at comcast dot net]

Hi all, 

On Saturday I birded these two areas.  First I went to Farmington Bay.  The two "fun" birds to see there were a Great Egret (at the second bridge with the owls - and a great thanks to Merrill Webb for bringing it to my attention) and a Common Loon halfway between summer and fall plumage (about 100 yards north of the very south end of the west dike).  There were thousands if not millions of ducks of many types.  Gadwall and Northern Pintail were the abundant ducks.  However these were the other ones present:

Am. Widgeon
Northern Shovelor
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Bufflehead
Am. Coot
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Great Blue Heron (fishing with the Great Egret)
Lesser Scaup
Redhead

There were also Canada Goose, Am Kestrel, Snowy Egret (1 - by the first bridge) and one lone adult Bald Eagle on the dead tree.  I could not locate the Greater Scaup that Tim had seen earlier.  They were certainly not where he saw them, but I did not take my scope so they could easily still be there.

Then on to Antelope Island Causeway.  Less abundance of species, but the sheer quantity of Eared Grebe made up for that.  Species that were seen were:

BONAPARTES GULL (four - three together about mile 3 and one at the west bridge - all in winter plumage, at least one juvenile)
RB Gull
Northern Shovelor (their numbers remain strong)
Raven
Am. Kestrel

Then in the FWIW column, I saw something I had not seen before.  When I was at the marina I saw what seemed to be a very large gull with a streaked head which seemed darker than usual.  I was at the west end of the marina watching it fly east.  While watching it the gull made a couple of short lived dives, one reminding me of a Northern Harrier diving down.  There were Eared Grebes in the water there at the marina.  I was still most curious about which gull this was and so quickly followed it to the east where I very briefly lost sight of it as it dived down behind the jetty.  I quickly arrived there and saw it in the water.  With the naked eye I thought it has just found a place to land.  It was about 80 yards out.  I then looked at it through the binocs and it had an Eared Grebe.  It definitely was out to kill it.  Though sheer speculation on my part, it looked like it was trying too drown it.  Though I was a good distance away, I may have scared it away as it did look my way and flew off.  The Eared Grebe being the none the worst for wear (apparently as it went on with its business).  I have seen gulls attack living things before, but this one looked like it was actually hunting as I saw 2-3 short dives before its final attack on the grebe.  Sorry, no photos.  Too far away and a little too surprised by the whole event.  I did not ID the gull but have some photos that I will have to look at.  I think it was most likely a CA Gull.

No Scoters of any species.

Brian
_______________________________________________

"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
_________________________________________________