Fieldtrip report

[tuularose at juno dot com]

About 30 optimistic UCBirders showed up at the Provo temple in the early
Saturday morning rain / sleet / turning to snow. By the time we got to
the point of the mountain, visibility was near zero, but that all started
to get clearer the closer we got to Antelope Island. The causeway gave us
good looks at a black-bellied plover, a small flock of sanderlings and
several Bonaparte's gulls, these three species being the best birds of
the day. An unusual sight of a common loon flying over the visitor's
center parking lot got us by surprise.

 We were hoping for at least one warbler species at Garr ranch. No such
luck. A green-tailed towhee came out of the brush pile for a few fleeting
seconds, a hermit thrush made an appearance and a first-of-the year lark
sparrow joined the vesper sparrows by the parking lot. 

Glover ponds had a pair of blue-winged teal and a pair of red-breasted
mergansers besides all the other possible duck species.  At Farmington
bay/Egg Island we saw both yellowlegs, willets and godwits galore and all
the avocets west of the Rocky Mountains. All and all we counted a total
of 78 species, which in my opinion is pretty darn good for a snowy day in
April. The most unusual sighting of the day was a new subspecies of  Bald
eagle that Ned pointed out to us: Haliaeetus leucocephalus "metallicus" ,
perched atop a flagpole.

Here is a list of all of them for those of you that want to keep track:
(In no particural order)
Willet
Barn swallow
Cliff swallow
Marbled godwit
California gull
American avocet
Lesser scaup 
Northern shoveler
Bonaparte's gull
Eared crebe
Western crebe
Black-bellied plover
Sanderling
Tree swallow
Canada goose
American magpie
Sage thrasher
Horned lark
Meadowlark
White-crowned sparrow
Common loon
Raven
Loggerhead shrike
Rock wren
Sandhill crane
Mourning dove
Kildeer
Great blue heron
American kestrel
Merlin
Northern pintail
Gadwall
Mallard
Starling
Savannah sparrow
Brewer's blackbird
Yellow-headed blackbird
Lark sparrow
Robin
Townsend's solitair
Green-tailed towhee 
Hermit thrush
Spotted towhee
Song sparrow
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Long-billed curlew
Vesper sparrow
Chukar
Violet-green swallow
Rock dove
Caspian tern
Cattle egret
American coot 
Pied-billed crebe
Blue-winged teal
Redhead
Green-winged teal 
Bufflehead
Red-breasted merganser
Cinnamon teal
Ring-necked pheasant
Double-crested cormorant
Common merganser
Ruddy duck
Turkey vulture
American wigeon
Mountain bluebird
Western kingbird
American white pelican
Northern harrier
Greater yellowlegs
Lesser yellowlegs
Marsh wren
Franklin's gull
Ring-necked duck
Black-necked stilt
Red-tailed hawk
House finch

Congrats, you got to the bottom of this list. I almost didn't.
Happy birding   ~   Tuula