Provo/Orem Area 12/4

["Matthew J. Williams" <mjw22 at comcast dot net>]

Hello All,
	I did a little birding along the east side of the lake today and later
checked out the Rosy Finch "spot" in Orem.  No luck with the Rosy Finches
but I had some nice birds on the day.  One of the first sightings of the
day was a Falcon (probably Prarie) perched up on one of the powerline poles
near the Powell WMA in Orem.  A Great Blue Heron also was flying off to the
north.  I birded my way to the Utah Lake SP and had a few Red-tails, 2
Kestrels, 1 Song and 5 White-Crowned Sparrows.  En route to the park, along
Center Street, just across from the RV Park, I saw an adult Bald Eagle
sitting in a tree out in the field.  Not so odd once I considered the
nearby Provo River (and Utah Lake).  Scoping from the promontory at the
State Park, I saw Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwall, Common Goldeneye and
lots of Common Mergansers.  There were some white blobs (bad glare) to the
north that may or may not have been Swans.  At least 4 adult Bald Eagles
were out on the ice and there were 2 more probable youngsters.  I also ran
into Larry Draper here.
	Later, up in Orem, my wife and I went for a short hike that turned up no
Rosy Finches or suspicious flocks.  A few House Finches, some Juncos and
Black-capped Chickadees were in the shrubs and a 1st year Harrier passed by
a few times.  An American Kestrel had some success hunting and was feeding
on a post.  After getting tired of fogged binoculars and as daylight faded,
we headed back.
	We thought our sightings were done but we had a big flock of crows that
appear to be roosting on the south side of the Macey's parking lot in
Provo.  There were at least 500 or so.  Many more than I'd ever seen out in
Utah.  I recall roosts in the 10's of thousands in Auburn and Cortland, NY
and they must be doing this for similar possible reasons...escaping
predators (GH Owls), sharing info on food locations, etc.  How long has
this been occurring?

Good Birding,
Matt Williams
Provo, UT


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