Tax Commission Hawks

["Steve Coleman" <scoleman at utah dot gov>]

Hello All

This is an update on The Swainsons's hawks that nested near the Tax
Commission this year.

The parents have not been seen for several weeks but the juvenile that
they raised was seen as recently as last on Monday sitting on a power
pole in the area.

As for the other one that was evicted from the nest. It was released
into the wild on Sunday by the wildlife rehabilitator that raised it.
They said that he had been able to kill his own food and was fully
prepared to be released. Unfortunately I had prior commitments and was
unable to attend the release.

On another note, late Sunday afternoon I was sitting in my living room
and heard a very familiar sound. I grabbed my binoculars and ran out to
my front yard, flying directly over our neighborhood (Woods Cross) was a
flock of approx. 50 Sandhill Cranes. While I was enjoying watching them
I heard some more coming in from the northwest there was another group
of about 25 and then several smaller groups, in all there were about 100
birds. I have heard people talk of seeing big groups of Sandhills but
this was a first for me. What a sight and a sound, it almost made up for
missing the hawk's release but not quite.

Happy birding
Steve

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