Utah County Birders  Field Trip Report

Friday, 21 February 2020 Delta Snow Goose Festival 2020 Part 1 Text by Suzi Holt and Photos by Suzi & Jessie Holt Gunnison Bend Reservoir We got off a little after 8 am. Fifteen birders in 6 cars, headed down Hwy 6 to Delta. We decided to try a challenge, so we set the odometer for 20 miles and counted the birds...we got outside of Eureka and made it to 12 species so we will have to try again. On the way down to Delta we saw Rough-legged Hawks, Ravens, Horned Larks, and Prairie Falcon. We arrived at Gunnison Bend Reservoir about 10 am. The reservoir was free of ice so there were about 850 Snow Geese floating on the reservoir with a few on the edges in the fields, there were a couple Blue morphs and some Ross's Geese in the mix. What a beautiful site. It has been as few years since there wasn't ice. We got our fill of them and proceeded to get a couple challenges done. We found over 20 species at the reservoir and completed a few numbers...a birding day, Millard County, a reservoir, and added some waterfowl to others lists, plus a few FOY birds for some. It was a lot of fun. Highlights were of course the Snow Geese and Ross's Geese. Plenty of waterfowl including a Hooded Merganser. A few Bald Eagles and many of the regulars. It was a beautiful sunshiny day out in Delta. On the way home we started our 20 species in 20 mile stretch again at the Tooele turn off. We added enough to surpass our goal! Thanks to all who came, it is a fun tradition and I am glad we were able to go! The reservoir was free of ice...    Ross's Geese and Snow Geese Utah County Birders Snow Geese, American Coots and Common Mergansers some with different plumages Ross's Goose - smaller and with small bill Snow Goose -- larger bill and with a "smiley gape"   Such a sight!         On the way Home                            Nine Bald Eagles on the way home,  by Goshen Killdeer Bald Eagle Horned Lark Red-tailed Hawk in Goshen       E-mail: ucbirders@utahbirds.org