Hello, I thought I would drop some notes in a post that I received from Bob plus some of the Facebook updates from the Wildlife page. These are in order of most recent going back to early September. I requested an update on Dad. I will post when I receive it.
-FYI - 4:21 p.m. on Tues., October 22: my 1st of the season rough-legged hawk observed soaring just south of the northern boundary (2200 North St.) of the Salt Lake City International Airport, "roughies" are fairly common winter visitants in Utah
-1:48 - 2:07 p.m. on Tues., Oct. 22:
2013 adult female perched on last k in words Key Bank on north face of the Key Bank Tower
-SLC Peregrine Falcon Cam fans ... new (first) California condor webcam in the wild:
www.ventanaws.org
Check it out ... let 'em know if you see something interesting!
-I drove downtown (about 12:30 p.m.) to identify the reported bird on the top of a car yesterday, October 16. Unfortunately, I was a moment too late since the car pulled away (to the west) from my vantage point on the east side of Main Street. However, with the help of able co-worker Patricia Engel (who greatly enlarged the posted photo), we were able to identify the bird. Upon close inspection of the enlarged photo, we were able to agree that it appeared to be a common nighthawk ... an aerial insectivore that nests on leafy, or gravelly ground in woodlands (as well as on flat-topped, gravel, urban roofs) and occasionally shows up as a prey item in the diet of the Salt Lake City peregrine falcons. The broad, white bar on either wing of the nighthawk is an easy to spot feature in peregrine prey collections that I've made through the years.
-I've observed a lone peregrine with some regularity over the last few weeks in the downtown SLC area. I just returned from there having observed (1:27 p.m. on Wed., October 9) an adult peregrine that looked like Mom of 2013 (obvious, white cheek patches and a wide/broad, buffy-colored tip o' the tail) perched, where I have spotted a lone bird often, on the Key Bank Tower (KBT) sign on the east face of the KBT.
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| Thanks to Justin Matkin for photo taken October 10. |
-I observed an adult on the north-facing Key Bank Tower sign on Tuesday, Sept. 24. On Sept. 13, I saw a young-of-the-year peregrine perched on one of the lattice-type power line structures off 3200 W. just north of the Salt Lake City International Airport.
-6:30 - 6:52 p.m. on September 11, 2013: adult female (presumed to be the 2014 "Mom" since sported no bands and exhibited the highly recognizable, buffy-tipped tail) observed perched atop the tallest column (farthest to east) at the west end on the north face of the Zions Bank Tower
-The adult female (Mom), or a lookalike, was spotted on the southeast, "shoulder" corner (south face) of the tall Church Office Bulding (COB) at 7:00 p.m. on September 4. At 7:46 p.m., Mom was observed making the short flight to a presumed roost site to the west below the tinted glass at a point where the shoulder level of the building intersects the main column ... I've observed adults at roost on either side of the central column of the COB at that level on the south face of the COB on numerous occasions in the past. Mom, or the lookalike, may have been the peregrine that was reported to me by Church Security as "stuck" within the observation deck on the west side of the COB earlier in the evening, sometime around 6:00 p.m. When a Security officer accompanied me to the area earlier (around 7:00 p.m.), the bird could not be found and it was assumed that somehow (and finally since the time that it was reported to me) it had managed to bolt/vault over and above the observation deck perimeter walls to attain the freedom of unobstructed, open air. No other peregrines were observed in the area at/on all the usual places so I'm fairly certain that Mom was indeed the earlier-reported trapped bird.
Comment from co-worker upon hearing my report of the incident: tell her to knock that (getting trapped) off/stop it! Amen, but, of course, they'll do what they do!!!
