It's March--and that means migration.  If you live in northern Utah you are probably saying to yourself, "Migration? It snowed a foot in the last 24 hours!!!".  True, this late season system dumped along the Wasatch Front the past two days, and I am sure quite a few people are thinking more about skiing than birding right now--but migration is here, and that's a fact.

Snow storm that hit Salt Lake City Last Night--March 1st.

The Snow and Ross's Geese are moving through the state right now.  The first shorebirds are showing up in small numbers. Sandhill Cranes are being reported as small groups pass through.  Waterfowl are heading back and soon enough raptors , swallows, and sparrows will be on the move.  March isn't a powerhouse month for migration but it does kick things off.  And once the ball is rolling, the birds just keep coming.  April and May will be here in no time, and before you know it the end of June will arrive and Fall Migration will have kicked back off.

Scott's Orioles arrive in southern Utah as early as March.

If you head to southern Utah during the latter half of the month quite a few southern specialties will be arriving and starting to look for nest sites.  Lucy's Warblers, Bell's Vireos, Scott's Orioles, Common Black-Hawks, and more are all early arrivals.

Cassin's Finch in March in my yard in Sandy.

If you're not quite ready for winter to be over, it's a great time to head into the mountains looking for winter finch flocks.  Rosy-Finches were abound at Powder Mountain last week--while Crossiblls, Cassin's Finches, and Siskin tend to start showing up at valley feeders just about now. There are still some gulls around, as well as 1,000's of Tundra Swans, and other winter waterfowl.  Winter Raptors are still here to--Merlins, Rough-legged, and Harlan's Hawks, as well as Bald Eagles.

Tundra Swans by the 1,000's during Migration.

But it's the month of change and many of the birds we are seeing right now will be long gone in a few weeks--replaced by their breeding counterparts.  Make it a helluva March and let us know what you're seeing!

At the onset of February, fellow Utah Birder Carl Ingwell challenged other Utah Birders to submit as many eBird checklists as possible during the month of February.  February is typically a slow month for birding in Utah, so this is quite a challenge. Well here it is and the final week of February is upon us and as of this morning Utah sits at 24th in terms of most checklists submitted for the month--that's one spot higher than we were at the beginning of the month.  So what happened?  I thought for sure we would jump into maybe 16th, or 13th--but to no avail we remain at the bottom of the top 25.  Like BYU during their luckiest of Football seasons, or Utah during an off year, we jsut couldn't move up in the rankings.

But alas, it doesn't matter--it's just a silly challenge.  I took it to heart though (As Barnabus Stinson would say, "Challenge Accepted"!) and made it my goal to submit as many checklists as possible this month.  As of right now that's 181 checklists in the past 23 days.  That's just under 1/2 as many as I submitted in all 0f 2011.  And because of Carl's challenge I'm sitting somewhere near the top of the list for submitted checklists in Utah this year... well take a look for yourself:

I'm not exactly killing it in the species department--but in the checklists department I am having a Ted Williams'esque run.  Well Utah Birders, with just a week to go it looks like there is some major catching up to be done--so challenge on--beat me and I will throw in an extra prize to whatever Carl had in mind!

But I'm not going down without a fight--I am going to submit at least 10 checklists a day till the end of the month (that's at least 60 more for those who aren't aware of the date).

Good eBirding to all--get out there and get those checklists entered.

People have asked me to post more Golden Eagles in regards to ageing. Anyone want to take a guess what age this is, or just flat out tell us what age it is. It's a pretty simple one, or is it? "click" on photo to enlarge this beautiful image by Vic Berardi.

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, the first thing I saw was how much it had snowed. The second thing I saw was a female Sharp-shinned Hawk (which I mistakenly thought was a Cooper's Hawk - whoops) feasting on a Mourning Dove. I captured some pics of it through my phone cam via scope. Not the best quality by any stretch, but I thought it was pretty cool. A little morbid by some perspectives, but I found it fascinating. Anyone else have regular raptor hunting in their backyards? I've seen the following raptors in my neighborhood: American Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Merlins, and Western Screech Owls. It's great when you can just look out your back window and see some amazing things.

Mexican Duck, Anas (platyrhynchos) diazi, at First Dam, Logan, Utah.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.  

If you follow Utah Birdtalk/Birdnet, you already know that on February 5th, about two weeks ago, my friend Craig Fosdick found a very interesting duck at First Dam in Logan, Utah.  It was a Mexican Duck; probably the northernmost record of the species, and only the third from Utah.  Mexican Ducks are easy to overlook, and many readers of this blog might have never heard of one before.  Even the experienced birders Craig was with at the time hardly gave this unique vagrant a second look.

First, what is a Mexican Duck?  That question is not easy to answer.  According to the American Birding Association and the American Ornithologists Union, it is a subspecies of Mallard.  But that view is considered by some to be antiquated and inaccurate.  Recent genetic work has shown that the Mexican Duck may actually be its own species, and it is at least as unique as several other species such as the Laysan Duck and the Mottled Duck.  The picture is complicated, however, because Mallards contain several genetic lineages, and thus to have species boundaries that reflect mitochondrial gene phylogenies, one would either have to split Mallards based on strictly genetics, or else consider "Mallards" to include Laysan Ducks, American Black Ducks, Mottled Ducks, and many others, which obviously does not reflect biology well.  This is an area that is in need of additional research, particularly in generating phylogenies and assessing hybridization with nuclear molecular markers.

Phylogeny of Mallard-group ducks, modified from Johnson and Sorenson 1999, based on mitochondrial DNA sequences.  Note that Mallards appear twice here, having (at least) two different mitochondrial sequences.  Also note that Mexican Ducks are as distinct from Mallards as many other groups that we know of as species.

The definition of species within the Mallard group is confusing, but perhaps even more so in the case of Mexican Ducks, because our understanding of this species is clouded by hybridization with Mallards in Arizona and New Mexico.  A classic study of morphology in Mexican Ducks found that there are virtually no pure Mexican Ducks anywhere in the species range, according to a numerical scale of morphology that ranges from pure Mexican Duck to pure Mallard.  However, an alternative interpretation of the same dataset is that our definition of what identifies a pure Mexican Duck is too narrow, and that pure Mexican Ducks can show traits that have once been taken to be indicative of Mallards.

With respect to the duck seen recently in Logan, this appears about as close to a pure Mexican Duck as one can expect at the northern part of the range of the (sub)species.  There is very little green on the head.  The bill is bright yellow.  The tail shows no patches of white.  The speculum has green iridescence, and is bordered only thinly by white.  The rump and undertail coverts match the flanks well in color, showing no obvious indication of the black that a male Mallard has in these areas.  The belly is dark, matching the color of the rest of the bird well.  The only part that seems to show some obvious Mallard ancestry is that the central retrices (tail feathers) curl up slightly off the plane of the tail, hinting at the curled central tail feathers of an adult male Mallard.  But, with how little we know of "pure" Mexican Ducks, perhaps this is not outside the range of variation shown by them?  Only an extensive study of morphological variation and nuclear DNA across the range of the Mexican Duck and Mallard can really address this question well.

The Mexican Duck looks a lot like a female Mallard, but darker and (in a male, such as this one) with a bright yellow bill.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.

The Mexican Duck's speculum has more of a green iridiscence, compared to the purple of a Mallard's, although the color varies somewhat with the angle of view.  Also note here how, unlike a male Mallard, the rump is about the same color as the flanks and the tail is dark, without white.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.

Unlike a Mallard, the lower belly is not noticeably paler than the flanks or breast.  The bright white underwing coverts are a trait shared by male Mexican Ducks and male Mallards.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.

This angle can be tough to see in the field, but it shows how the back of the Mexican Duck is generally dark, and the speculum is only thinly bordered by white, not boldly bordered by white like a Mallard's speculum.  Note that at this angle the speculum looks more purple than green, like a Mallard's.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.

As rare birds go, this individual might be pretty easy to find.  It has been seen over the last two weeks at First Dam in Logan.  Watch for a duck that looks a bit like a female Mallard, but is darker and has a bright yellow bill.  While I don't advocate feeding park ducks, it is a common practice at this park, and if you happen to time your visit when a local is feeding them, this duck might come right out in the open and fight with the other local domestic breeds for bread.  Otherwise, you might get lucky and see it swimming around on the water, or it might be sleeping on the far shore of the lake.  If it's not out in the open when you get there, try patiently scanning the sleeping ducks along the shoreline.

The Mexican Duck being seen at Logan's First Dam seems to have paired up with a female Mallard.  Note in this view how this Mexican Duck's central retrices lift slightly off the others, perhaps indicating a small amount of Mallard heritage.  Copyright Ryan P. O'Donnell.