[Birdtalk] sandhill cranes, great egrets, yellow-headed blackbirds, and a northern shrike (in a pear tree?)

[L. D. Giddings]

I spent a few hours this morning checking out the south end of Utah
county. Noteworthy birds include:

- a northern shrike at Swede's Lane,
- a pair of sandhill cranes seen flying over Benjamin,
- a pair of great egrets in the sloughs immediately west of I-15 and
between the two Springville exits,
- a yellow-headed blackbird keeping company with a flock of red-winged
blackbirds in the top of a tree north of the Spanish Fork waste
treatment facility,
-and a Cooper's hawk and a sharp-shinned hawk at River Lane; the latter
landed on the window ledge of the house near the end of the paved
portion of the road and allowed me to snap a few photos, while the
former was seen in the trees along the river about half-way down the
dirt portion of the road.

I should also note that I observed 23 Eurasian-collared doves in a tree
in Benjamin.

One last thing. River Lane was pretty quiet except for the hunters. If
there were any blue-gray gnatcatchers around they were keeping their
little heads down. A belated "thank you" to those of you who responded
to my request for information several weeks ago, including Tom Williams,
Cheryl Peterson, and Eric Huish, along with a special acknowledgment to
Mark Stackhouse who was kind enough to let me know that he was watching
blue-gray gnatcatchers on the same day as I, albeit in the much more
temperate climes of sunny Mexico.

Lu Giddings

Total Count: 31
Gadwall
Common Merganser
Great Egret
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Northern Flicker
Northern Shrike
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow