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Hit farmington yesterday.....never seen so many birds in september EVER! they were everywhere! The cows and spraying have really done a great job killing off the phragmite, nearly removing it from unit one and killing it from the boat launch out to almost footbridge 6 on the turpin! Lots of new puddles have been created and tons of cat tails in the turpin. looks to be a great season coming!
From the bear river bird refuge waterbird survey:
August 29 2011
Canada goose 4985
Mallard 2241
Northern pintail 17141
American green-winged teal 5074
Cinnamon teal 5513
Northern shoveler 1227
Gadwall 2802
American wigeon 9965
Redhead 9
Aug 26 2012
Canada goose 5,557
Mallard 8,374
Northern pintail 23,615
Green-winged teal 23,076
Cinnamon teal 7,493
Northern shoveler 11,428
Gadwall 9,030
American wigeon 2,368
Redhead 192
Ok, back to work now....
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Ok one more...
that comes to 49,000 birds on the BRBR in 2011 and 91,000 this year [laugh]
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im not getting my hopes up. No offensive
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numbers sound great.. but if they all stay on the resting ponds :-(..
UL is really low. Heard a report Mud Lake is dry/muddy, no water.
shallower water freezers earlier. hope the migration birds get here before everything freezes. Last year, the harbors froze early, making it tough to launch a boat.
YOu have Farmington dialed in, and obvopusly away from the sky busters, you will do well, i have no doubt.
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i hear the numbers in cache valley are good as well, but like was said previously, low water year all over the place. we will have to see fo'sho!
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Funny you should mention numbers. I just finished my tour/scout trip. Salt creek and public have never had more geese then what I saw today. Bear river was the same. The spur was mostly dry, but the bono's showed huge numbers of everything. Harold crane was in fine shape. Ogden bay needs a bit of water, but no shortages of birds. I believe the opener should be pretty spectacular, and as the season wears on I am hoping for as good a year as last year. Gosh there were a TON of birds everywhere....
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There was no lack of water at farmington, I hear the air boat launch is lower than last year and inaccessible to mud motors until they start putting more water out.
The lack of water in surrounding areas combined with the surplus of ducks (highest ever number of mallards counted in this year) should make for a great season as long as you're willing to change your strategy and get out and find where they are!
My buddy was on unit 1 for the youth opener, said birds were indeed everywhere.
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