[ucbnet] Hawks galore!

[Cheryl Peterson]

Today, Steph and I saw 22 hawks near Elberta.  Some were in the field
(all of those were Ferruginous) and the rest were sitting on a
sprinkler line, except for 1 Red-tailed Hawk flying around the field
(adult).  There were  7 Swainson's Hawks (2 or 3 adults) and 8
Ferruginous Hawks (maybe 3 adults).  The other six flew off before I
could ID with the scope and the pictures weren't clear enough to ID,
either.  Quite an amazing sight.  I took a series of pictures, being
careful not to overlap on the birds and that is how we came up with
the final total.  It was after that series of pictures that we started
counting species and aging them.  Some had flown off by then and that
is why I don't have a definite count other than the total number.

We were excited to see 2 Burrowing Owls north of Elberta in the usual
spot.  That is the first time I have seen them there this year.  They
were sitting at two different burrows a little ways out from the 1
mile marker.

We tried to check up on the Golden Eagles, but the leaves were in the
way.  I could tell that there was one bird in the nest, but couldn't
see enough to know if it was the adult or the juvenile.

I haven't been able to go birding for a couple of weeks, so this was a
very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Cheryl Peterson
Provo