A Travellerspoint blog

Surprise Utah Birding!

sunny 99 °F

Today I missed my connecting flight to Idaho, so I was stranded in Salt Lake City for 8 hours. My solution: go birding!

After a quick taxi ride, I arrived at my destination for the afternoon, Bountiful Pond which is a pretty little lake with a nice view of the mountains and a fair amount of bird activity.
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You know you're out west when you see a WESTERN GREBE!
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A couple of FORSTER'S TERNS were nice, the first one is in breeding and the second is in nonbreeding plumage:
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Female AMERICAN GOLDFINCH:
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I encountered a "life mammal:" a Long-tailed Weasel! How cool! Thanks to Liz Cifani for the species identification and she also told me that this species, also known as the Ermine, turns completely white in the winter. I would love to see it in that plumage!
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WHITE-FACED IBIS, a nice treat:
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CATTLE EGRET:
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Female/juvenile type GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE:
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My bird-of-the-day goes to the CLARK'S GREBE that hung around the pond, probably the most uncommon species I found today:
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Good birding! I'll probably post in about two weeks once the birding part of my Idaho trip starts.

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 923 Species (no recent life birds)

Posted by skwclar 20:22 Archived in USA Tagged mountains animals birds sky utah

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Comments

Nice Henry! Glad you got to go out and find some fun stuff.
Looking forward to seeing you, there's another young man I work with at Parks and Rec that's in to birds also. I hope to introduce you to each other this year so I hope you can stop by.
See you soon and Bird on!
Poo

by Poo

It's amazing how mistakes can turn out for the better! Great photos and birds, and congratulations on your weasel sighting. I think your mystery bird is a female Goldfinch, based on the shape and color pattern, and an American due to the pink bill (Lesser has more of a gray bill I believe).

by Jonathan B

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