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Seems like the birdies are always dining when I
arrive on the scene. Today at mid-day at Kaysville Ponds I watched two
female Hooded Mergansers both wrestle with 5-inch fish in separate
vignettes. One of the mergansers was not deterred by the repeated
squawking and dive bombing of a California Gull overhead whose motive, I
presume, was to intimidate her to drop her prized lunch. She merely dove
and didn't reappear for quite some time and the gull lost interest.
Upon surfacing she still grasped the fish, and then, bloop! Down the hatch
it went.
I was impressed with the variety of bird life at
these suburban ponds that are bordered by traffic whizzing by on the
interstate. Nothing unusual to report, but I enjoyed Lesser Scaup,
Redheads, Northern Shoveler, Canada Geese, the usual domestic duck-duck-goose
assortment, Mallard, American Wigeon, Eared Grebe, Common Goldeneye, Killdeer,
Red-winged Blackbirds, Gadwall, Magpie, and Common Raven. Funniest
sighting of the day was an improbable American White Pelican playing
king-of-the-hill on the small island in the north pond. It looked quite
out of place amongst the resting gulls on that postage-stamp size spot of
land, and it looked especially funny when the wind came up from behind and blew
the feathers around on its head. I was sure this must be a
Pelican Merganser, by the look of its bad hair-do!
The Utah Botanical Gardens are coming along.
This spot will be quite nice when the bridges and paths are complete and the
vegetation is planted. This is the kind of place where you never know what
will turn up. Today's example was the pelican; earlier in the winter while
I was gawking at the waterfowl, a mature Bald Eagle landed in a tree with tiny
branches far too small for its great big feet. The bird withstood the
balancing act for about 10 minutes, then threw in the towel and took off in the
direction of Farmington Bay.
To reach Kaysville Ponds, take Exit 331 off I-15
and turn east. In approximately 1/2 mile, turn south on Main Street for
1/4 mile, and then bear right on 50 West. Kaysville Ponds are sandwiched
between 50 West and the interstate.
Kris
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