Utah County Birders  Field Trip Report

23 Feb 2019 Delta Snow Goose Festival   Report by Suzi Holt Photos by Suzi Holt & Amanda Tinoco     Fifteen birders left Payson around 7:30 am and headed west to Delta. We passed a few Rough-legged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, a Golden Eagle, lots of Common Ravens, Woodhouse's Scrub Jays and Horned Larks on the way down. We arrived about 9:15 am at Gunnison Bend Reservoir and it was frozen! The DNR told us to head to 50, then 5000 then go right on 500 to 3000. On our way East on 500 we saw a huge flock flying to the South. We watched them circle about and land in the field. They were so close! We saw them without a scope this year from the warmth of the car. We counted at least 8 Ross's Geese and it was fun to have them close enough to compare with the Snow Geese. We estimated around 5000 Snow Geese! Such a beautiful sight! Everyone needs to experience this at least once.     We took quite a few photos and then decided to wait for them to fly again. About one minute later something triggered them to fly and half of them took to the skies. What a sight and what a sound! We were so happy!       We decided to head back to Mosida to try for the Longspurs. The snow had melted a lot and we only saw about 15 Horned Larks. We did have a few bonus birds, Rough-legged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, a beautiful Ferruginous Hawk and a couple Great-horned Owls. We stopped at Warm Springs for Jeremy Telford's birthday cake and Snow Geese Balloons! Thanks to all who came!          E-mail: ucbirders@utahbirds.org