Farmington Bald Eagle Update

For the past several weeks I’ve been receiving almost daily requests for the current and anticipated Bald Eagle situation at Farmington Bay WMA so this morning I’ve decided to be a little proactive with a blog post that covers most everything I know on the subject.  It won’t be of interest to everyone but it should serve a purpose for all who hope to make the annual pilgrimage to Farmington for the eagles.

First a little background.

Most years there’s a virtual Bald Eagle feeding frenzy at Farmington in February and the attraction for the eagles is carp.  Those large invasive fish do a lot of damage to the emergent marsh vegetation needed by waterfowl so refuge personnel usually apply rotenone to some of the ponds in early February. Rotenone is a natural (derived from plants) piscicide (fish poison) that interferes with cellular respiration in fish but has only minor and transient environmental side effects.

Carp are also killed by draining ponds.

There’s sometimes a third source of dead carp at Farmington.  Invasive carp are a huge environmental problem at nearby Utah Lake, largely because of their adverse effects on a native fish, the June Sucker.  So in recent years (except for last year) a truckload of dead carp from Utah Lake has been dumped at Farmington as an additional food source for eagles and in support of Bald Eagle Day (Feb. 14th this year).  Personally I have mixed emotions about this carp dump.  The eagles at Farmington are a huge draw for the general public and their presence likely has a significant positive effect on appreciation of wildlife and environmental awareness among the populace and the carp dump supports that awareness by attracting eagles.  But the carp that are trucked in are obviously bait and as a nature photographer I dislike baiting (understatement).  It makes photographing eagles at Farmington in February a complicated and awkward situation for me.

In response to questions about eagles at Farmington this year John Neill, Avian Biologist for the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program (DWR), made the following statements in UBIRD emails to subscribers two days ago:

• “Yes there will be a rotenone treatment done prior to bald eagle day, which is Saturday, February 14.”
• “Farmington Bay WMA may receive a load of dead carp tomorrow, which will be coming from the carp fishing activities at Utah Lake designed to help the endangered June Sucker.  If this is the case, then the rotenone treatment will be delayed.”

I visited Farmington for about an hour yesterday morning.  Here are some of my observations:

• The truckload of carp had not yet been dumped but it was anticipated later in the day.
• Recently there have been many eagles (100+) far out on the ice but due to our warm weather the ice has mostly melted and the eagles have largely dispersed. They may be at inaccessible parts of the refuge or they may have left the area.
• This adult bird was one of the few eagles I saw in the hour I was there and it was far away.
• Rotenone has apparently not yet been applied but others have reported dead fish at the first bridge from draining unit 1 (large pond on the east of the road).
• This time of year there’s sometimes opportunities for photographing Barn Owls in daylight but it’s very unlikely this year because our (scary) warm weather doesn’t force them to hunt during the day – good news for owls, not so good for photographers and wildlife watchers.

I did get a lucky fly-by from a juvenile eagle as I was leaving the refuge but the light was crappy and the background doesn’t appeal to me.

Refuge personnel have been working hard in preparation for Bald Eagle Day and other spring activities and that includes “mowing their lawn” (mostly invasive phragmites).  This Truxor DM5000 is one incredible machine (photographed yesterday at the second bridge).  It’s amphibious, can go virtually anywhere and performs a bewilderingly wide variety of jobs on the refuge.  If you’re a “tool person” you may be interested in watching this clip – it’s truly an amazing piece of equipment and perfectly designed for many of the tasks required for refuge management.  Yesterday while watching this machine at work, friend and fellow photographer Joe Ford (with a big grin on his face) repeatedly said “I WANT one of those!”.

In summary, Bald Eagles at Farmington are still “up in the air”.  Usually their activity is in full swing by now but this year it’s hard to predict how it will turn out.

Ron

An update to the update: It has been reported that one load of carp has been dumped near the 4-way and there may be another load brought in sometime in the next 24 hours.  In these crazy-warm temps (it’s 65 degrees F as I type this at 1:30 pm) Farmington should soon be quite aromatic…