American Bittern at Willard Bay SP
Kristin Purdy
Members of Wasatch Audubon saw an AMERICAN BITTERN this morning at Willard Bay State Park, Box Elder County, when the bird flushed from the small wetland just north of the Eagle Beach Day Use Area and along the shoreline. I happened to be the flusher, not knowing the bird was only 15-20 feet away from me as I was trying to draw a small bird or two from a brushy spot at the waterline (Song Sparrows: rats!). But then the bittern flushed to my left instead and flew away from me but gave other members of the group a good, albeit brief, profile view since they were on the opposite side of the wetland. What a funny bird for Willard Bay.
This little wetland and the more southerly portions of the nature trail have been improved with better access, wider paths surfaced with something like decomposed granite, and rail fences. I assume the overhaul was by Chevron as a consequence of last year’s oil spill. The small wetland I described has been somewhat de-jungle-ified so watchers can actually see into it. The areas around the wetland provided the best birding of the morning.
The north end of the park is still an unkempt jungle, needing a major overhaul just for walking access on the nature trail. Maybe that’s next.
Other birds in the park today included Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Wilson’s and Orange-crowned Warblers and Common Yellowthroats. The road leading around the north end of the park to the outlet channel was fairly birdy with White-crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrows (actually, a small flock of these), Cedar Waxwings, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and several of the warblers already mentioned. The sewage treatment ponds had a group of Snowy Egrets in the trees in the second pond to the west, and a Black-crowned Night Heron. We briefly studied the birds on a spit out from Eagle Beach, and Paul Lombardi and I were able to tease out one adult COMMON TERN at a fair distance. A scope was needed to see the combination of black bill, white forehead and black nape juxtaposed against this late date in September to give away the bird’s ID.
Willard Bay State Park is located off I-15 at exit 357.
Kris