[TopOfUtah] Possible Swainson's Hawks in Nibley

[Connie McManus]

Yesterday, while driving home, my husband, Bill, gave me a call on my cell
because he noticed 3 hawks, two seemed to be fighting and putting on a
dramatic display of high dives.  He was so impressed with their acrobatics
that he had to call me to tell me all about it.   By the time I got home,
there were a total of 5 hawks flying around the neighborhood.  As I studied
them with my binoculars -- and consulted Sibley's,-- I decided they were
Swainson's Hawks, 2 of them dark morphs.  I have seen two dark morph hawks
around my house the last few days and have had a difficult time getting a
look at them in flight.  I thought they might be Swainson's, but couldn't
see any distinguishing features on them until yesterday, now I'm fairly
certain (being a newbie, my confidence interval is about 70%).  These guys
are all dark from head to leg feathers, upper and under sides when seen
perching. There is nothing light on the breast, back or head.  When I saw
them in flight, they were dark all over.  The underside of the wings were
dark on the leading edge (front) and were light to the flight feathers, then
the flight feathers were very dark all along the margin of the wings. The
tail was light with fine, dark banding and the edge had a dark rim.  Without
them being in sight, that's what I remember of my viewing yesterday.

We watched as they would soar to probably 100 ft, then nose dive straight
down and pull up feet first at the last minute and land.  Unfortunately, I
missed the fighting.  Bill said one of the males (?) did a dive right on top
of another one that was perched on the ground and drove hime off.  What
awesome, wonderful birds!! LOVE them!!

-- 
Connie McManus
Nibley, Cache County, Utah
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