Pectoral Sandpipers at Provo Airport Dike

["Eric Huish" <poorwill_ at hotmail dot com>]

I checked the mud flats at the Southeast corner of the Provo Airport Dike 
this morning (where the road first meets the lake).  Amongst the hundreds of 
Western Sandpipers and Killdeer I saw 5 Pectoral Sandpipers, a couple 
Wilson's Phalaropes, a few Lesser Yellowlegs and many Avocets.

On the far side of the mudflat there was a large group of Caspian Terns.  I 
counted 127.  This is the most caspians I have ever seen in one place.  At 
the front edge of the snoozing flock of caspians there was a tern with a 
black cap and white forehead and what looked like a pale bill (the bird was 
quite distant).  Compared to the caspians this bird looked like a tiny flee. 
 By it's size I thought it looked like a Least Tern.  When it flew the 
shape and flight seemed to me more like one of the average sized terns and 
as it flew I could see a dark leading edge on the top side of the wing.  So 
maybe it was a Common Tern.  There were Forester's Terns in the area but 
they were all on the other side of the road and I couldn't get a size 
comparison with the mystery tern or the caspian terns.  I didn't get to see 
the tern long and I didn't have time to stay and look for it.  Be on the 
lookout for a possible least tern if you bird the area.

Other birds at the mud flat - AW Pelican, WF Ibis, Sn Egret, BC Night-Heron, 
Cal & RB Gulls, Frank Gulls, SH Crane and 'brown' Ducks.



Eric Huish
Pleasant Grove UT
poorwill_@hotmail.com
801-360-8777


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