Washington County Waterfowl (11/27)

["Rick Fridell" <rfridell at redrock dot net>]

Happy Thanksgiving,

Since Kristen had to work at Snow Canyon today (11/27), I decided to try and
locate 20 or more native species of waterfowl in Washington County.

I started off strong at Stratton Pond with eight species (Gadwall, American
Wigeon, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup (15+), Lesser Scaup,
Hooded Merganser, and Ruddy Duck).  Next stop was Quail Creek, where I added
Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, and Common
Merganser.  A quick stop by the Hurricane (SR-9) Sewage Ponds turned up 300+
Northern Shovelers.  Next I went to Sand Hollow State Park and was pleased
to see that the first winter Tundra Swan was still present.  Sand Hollow is
teeming with waterfowl, but the only other new species was Northern Pintail.

I now had 16 species in only an hour.  I headed to St. George.  Trips to the
Washington Fields, Seegmiller Marsh, Springs Estate Pond, and the St. George
Golf Course ponds failed to turn up any new species, but then I added a
single Canada Goose and saw six Redheads at the Southgate Golf Course
clubhouse pond. I thought 20 was out of reach when I failed to find any
geese at Sunbrook or Stonebridge golf courses.  Next I went to Sun River and
was fortunate to find a juvenile Ross's Goose on the pond closest to the
clubhouse.  Feeling fairly confident I could reach my target I returned home
with 19 species.

After a five hour break, Kristen and I stopped by Lower LaVerkin Creek on
our way to Thanksgiving dinner.  We saw approximately 15 Wood Ducks on the
private pond along LaVerkin Creek.

Other birds of note today included Great Egrets at both Southgate and
Sunbrook, and pale male "prairie" Merlin near the Springs Estates.

Happy Holidays,

Rick Fridell

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