Merlin - Utah County

[cldavis at xmission dot com]

While visiting the provo cemetery on Sunday we noticed a falcon in a large
tree on the south side.  It was a MERLIN that had just finished breakfast.
That's the first one I'd seen since two years ago at Antelope Island.
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, PINE SISKINS, RED CROSSBILLS,
and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES decorated the rest of the landscape.

Also in Utah county we saw a couple of ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, some BALD EAGLES,
and a possible COOPER'S HAWK off the second Springville exit and then lots
of cooperative Scrub Jays at Rock Canyon. They were strafed during
peanut-caching by a small falcon which sent them scattering (we were not
able to identify the predator.) We also heard some Steller's Jays.

On the way home we went east off the Alpine exit and after about a mile
spotted a smaller predator taking on a RED-TAILED HAWK and driving him from
the area.  The red-tailed did the upside-down attack but luckily missed.
The victor turned out to be a PRAIRIE FALCON who resumed his perch on a
light pole.

Other birds today -- northern shovelers, pied-billed grebes, song sparrows,
white-crowned sparrows, red-wings, and flickers.

Carol



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