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Viva la Brine Flies ??
May 12, 1974
Violet green and barn swallows were in the air, over the
water and on the ground, in such numbers as we had never before seen at
Farmington Bay. Swallow parking space seemed almost inadequate to the needs
of these nervous little birds as they parried for a moment's rest on
willows, dead tree limbs, dried cattails, last year's sunflower stalks, as
well as on the banks and the roads.
Along Turpin Dike there was equal competition among Franklin's gulls,
California gulls and coots. An unusual number of willets gathered on the
sandbars with the gulls, or along the water's edge. Flocks of Wilson's
phalaropes and some Northern phalaropes were whirling and spinning on the
water, making one feel slightly giddy to watch them.
Shovelers, especially the drakes, were flashing alternate colors of dark
green, rufous red and white as they scooped up food from the surface of the
water. Cinnamon teal were feeding both on the dike and from the water, as
were other ducks. It was a beautiful disorderly order of bird sound and
flight. The reason was soon evident.
At first glance, there appeared to be huge irregular patches of crushed
coal or cinders sprinkled along Turpin Dike. When the patches "flew up"
and pelted the car like fine buckshot, we know a great hatch of brine flies
had come off.
Yellow-headed blackbirds literally stood on their heads as they probed
underneath tangled grass for the brine flies. Birds along the dike were
scooping them up by the beakfull. On the return trip, we saw a number of
eared grebes pecking for brine flies as rapidly as their little shining
helmeted heads would allow them from the water's surface. Among them were
two male horned grebes and their mates. The newly hatched young were
floating contentedly between their imposing parents.
The only creatures we saw at Farmington Bay that were not interested in the
brine flies were the muskrats building their eat-and-live-in houses, and a
skunk looking for an unattended nest of eggs. Two male ruddy ducks were
showing off their bright blue bills and white cheek patches with vigorous
pumping action, or lunging at each other, clacking their wings as they
clashed in combat. They didn't have time for brine flies. A ruddy duck hen
was waiting in the reeds. First things first!
After several cool days, there was a striking difference in activity. The
patches of brine flies were missing from the dike, but many were still
floating on the north side of Turpin Dike, which is now completely
inundated by Great Salt Lake. Midges and mosquitoes, in less dramatic
swarms, had taken the place of the brine flies of three days earlier.
(Mr. Reuben Dietz, Supervisor of Farmington Bay, told us that he had seen a
Purple Gallinule during this period, but we never caught sight of it.)
-- by Leah T. Foerster
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