Bugs and Birds

Bugs and Birds

Wednesday May 17 and Thursday May 18, 2023

It was long 360 mile drive up from Coral Pink Sand Dunes to our next destination, Antelope Island, north west of Salt Lake City. The traffic was quite heavy for the last 60 miles and we were tired by the time we reached the State Park entrance. I didn’t see the notice that said “No-see-ums have hatched - no refunds due to bugs - head nets available for purchase” … but Gloria saw it.

Antelope Island is about 12 miles long and two miles wide, and is situated in the south east corner of the Great Salt Lake. The land was farmed / ranched from the early 1800s until 1981 when it became a State Park. Historically cattle and sheep were raised on the island, but more recently it is home to a large herd of bison, perhaps 500 or so in total. In the past, access was by boat, or in times of drought, by walking across a sand bar, but now there is a man-made causeway with a tarmac road. It’s quite a mountainous island and, as crazy as it sounds, it reminded me of some parts of the west coast of Scotland, with hills dropping down to white sand beaches, the sea and more mountains in the distance.

As we drove over the causeway we stopped to look at the birds, which seemed to be present in vast numbers. We were excited to see California and Franklins gulls, as well as black bellied plover and several avocets. We also couldn’t help noticing the clouds of insects that rose up like smoke from the grasses and shrubs by the side of the road. (If you think I am exaggerating see the photos below!). As we approached the campground our concerns changed from whether there would be any shade to if we could stand camping amongst the insects. In a moment of profound common sense we decided to sit at the picnic table for a few minutes before putting up the tent. We had on our bug nets (purchased prior to our Alaska trip last year), but nonetheless it took us about two minutes to realize that we couldn’t stay there. It was a beautiful site, overlooking the Great Salt Lake, but the bugs were unbelievable. The “midge flies”, that were so prominent on the causeway actually don’t bite, (although they were so numerous they might cause death by inhalation / asphyxiation), but the same cannot be said of the “No-see-ums” (midges) and mosquitos. We decided we needed another plan.

A quick search for local AirBNB brought up some options and we contacted one in Syracuse, about 5 miles east of the causeway. The owners, Tanya and Jordan were terrific and responded almost immediately. It was after 3.30pm when we initiated contact and by 4.30pm the accommodation was available for us. This turned out to be an excellent move: the suite was fabulous and we spent two very comfortable evenings there, cooking for ourselves in the full kitchen and watching movies on the enormous screen! It also meant that we could enjoy a trip back to Antelope Island the following day, explore the area and do some more birding, without having to deal with the bugs 24/7. Camping would have been absolutely miserable. We actually had a great day touring around, saw lots of birds including a Chukar, Long Billed Curlews, Burrowing Owls and a family of Great Horned Owls. We met a couple of local guys who were great fun to talk to and gave us some excellent tips and directions. Avoiding the bugs was challenge, but on the whole we managed do so.

One birding conundrum arose, regarding Phalaropes. We saw literally thousands of these birds from the causeway and we read that at their peak there have been more than half a million Wilson’s Phalaropes on the lake. However, to our eyes the birds that we were looking at were red Necked Phalaropes rather than Wilson's Phalaropes. This caused us a fair degree of consternation … but I can hear you yawning, so we’ll just leave it that … !

Mike

p.s. I am posting this from Three Island Crossing State Park in Idaho. The weather has become really hot, with temperatures hitting 90 oF this afternoon. Thankfully this campsite has lots of trees for shade

The boardwalk at the The Great Salt Lake ShoreLand Preserve. We saw Wilson's Snipe, Pheasant, Sora and Virginia Rail here ... it was quite lovely.

Clouds of "midge flies" rise above the grasses and shrubs at the edge of the causeway out to Antelope Island. If you stopped they immediately congregated around the car, landing on the windows. If you tried to use the wipers it created a heinous mess! We did find that they have a tendency to land on the sunny, downwind side of the car, so if we opened the windows on the other side we could look at birds quite comfortably from the car without being bothered by the flies.

"Midge flies" above a sage brush. These are the same insects that I photographed in close up at Otter Creek. They don't bite, but they are bothersome.

Bullrushes in Antelope Island, looking back from the location of the historic ranch towards the mountains to the east.

A view from Antelope Island looking north across the causeway. It is reminiscent of parts of western Scotland ... but maybe I'm projecting based on the midges (No-See-Ums)!

A baby Great Horned Owl with a parent. (The other parent was perched off to the side). This family of owls were up under the roof of an open barn near the Bison Corals on Antelope Island. We would never have known they were there if it weren't for the directions from the two lovely guys we met whilst birding.

Storm clouds gather over the Great Salt Lake.