Can Spring Be Far Off?

It's been another couple of weeks since my last entry again due to weather and fairly low activity. The sparrows continue to come in small groups and the scrub jays visit every morning and almost every evening. It has been the same story for the past two weeks. Here is a photo of one of the House Sparrows at the feeder.

 I had to take this one through the car windshield because these fellows are extremely skittish when we are outside the car. I took some with my phone when there were 5 or 6 birds eating at once, but they are rather poor, so I decided not to share them. And here are a couple of the House Finch photos.

Please pardon the dust spec on the image sensor.

I haven't seen any others since I saw this small flock. It was fun to see something other than sparrows for a change, though I enjoy watching the sparrow at the feeder.

So after two more weeks of fairly routine activity, yesterday brought a very nice change. The day's excitement commenced at about 8:30AM as we were driving to Winco to do our Saturday. As we were stopped at the intersection of State Street and University Parkway, we saw a Great Blue Heron flying west toward the lake. Later, as were returning from shopping, we saw an American Kestral having a meal while perched on top of a telephone pole.

With that auspicious beginning, I decided that it might be fun to drive out to Lincoln Beach on the west side of Utah Lake to see what, if anything was happening out there. I figured it was still a bit early in the year, but the day had turned sunny (though also rather windy) and I figured it would be fun to get out of the house for awhile. When we got out to Lincoln Beach, it was extremely windy and cold, though the sun being out made it rather pretty. This photo captures the way the experience felt rather well.

In spite of the ice and cold wind, the trip was well worth it. When we drove around to the other side of the boat dock area, we came upon this very welcome sight.

There were several Northern Shovelers hanging out near the edge of the ice. I was rather surprised to see them, but I have heard that they are actually fairly early arrivals to our area. They were not the only ones, though. Not far away in a break in the ice this pair was testing the water.

It is a little hard to see in the photo, but this is a pair of American Wigeons. The female took flight almost as soon as I took the photo, almost as if she did not want her picture taken.

As we drove back, we spotted a Western Harrier fighting the wind in its efforts to capture a meal, and two Sandhill Cranes were foraging in a still brown field not far from the lake. Both were too far away to get a good shot, even with my 300 MM lens, but they were incredible to watch through the binoculars. We also saw several areas of water full of California Gulls, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, and even a few American Wigeons and a Canvasback or two. I even scared a Western Meadowlark out of the grass as I was returning to the car after taking a couple of photos, but my camera batteries died and I missed that opportunity. Again, the others were too far away for me to get a good shot, but this is a good example of what it looked like.

Overall, it was a great day for seeing birds. I am getting excited because the coming weeks mean more sights like the one above and I cannot wait to see what will come through this year. We will likely head out to the levee this afternoon, so I may have more to share soon. Then we have Zion National Park in April. Though I really like winter, I think I am ready to put this one behind me and welcome my feathered friends back to Utah.