Friday, February 11, 2011

Utah Birding Hotspot: Farmington Bay

Farmington Bay - looking east from the main dirt road back toward the cities of Farmington, Centerville, and Bountiful.
Farmington Bay is recognized as a great place to find Bald Eagles in huge numbers at the end of January to the beginning of February.  We went just a bit too late to see hundreds, but we did see a handful.  I am very excited to come back during Spring and Fall migrations.


A view on a canal looking west.  There were lots of Mallards, Shovelers, Harriers, and even Bald Eagles back in there.
Even almost-4-year-old Claire loved the Bald Eagles, especially once she was able to get the binoculars trained on them, exclaiming with her cute little lisp "Yes!  I see them!"
Victoria knows how to use the binoculars and she enjoyed the Eagles, even though she was "starving" having missed her after-school snack due to a much needed time out in the naughty chair.
And Kyle...well his adventurous almost-10-year-old soul took him to the edge.  This little venture almost lost him his shoe.
I was surprised at the amount of Bald Eagle paparazzi there were at Farmington Bay.  Lots of big high-powered camo lenses and camo coveralls.  Speaking of camo, I'm soon gonna post a controversial write-up about birding and camouflage...so stay tuned.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful there! You kids are adorable!

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  2. ahhh...so nice you've got your kids out there birding with you! Future naturalists? The place looks beautiful too...

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  3. @Dawn @Kelly thanks for the comments about the kids. There are glimmers of home for them in spite of their father!

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  4. Robert, the time I saw the most eagles there (about 400!) was when my friend Kathryn (she has a new blog she just started called MY Mountan Green) and I drove all the way to the end of the road at the refuge, parked our car and hiked about 1 1/2 due west towards the airport. There in the distance we saw the eagles 30 to 40 at a time in 3 trees near a small pond and then even more in some fields that were closer walking around on the ground like chickens!

    Seeing you with your kids reminds me of when mine were young. Oh, how I miss those days sometimes. Adorable kids.

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  5. @Kathiesbirds - we were hoping to see hundreds of Bald Eagles. Maybe next year!

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