WILDLIFE - The Salt Lake Tribune

First peregrine falcon hatches in downtown Salt Lake City

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:07:14 MDT

First peregrine falcon hatches in downtown Salt Lake City

By Michael McFall The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 11:07PM MDT

The first peregrine falcon chick has hatched from four eggs laid in a downtown Salt Lake City nest box. The falcon parents were tending the eggs in a nest box on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Their first-born cracked through its shell Wednesday as high-definition cameras installed in the box broadcast its arrival around the world via the Internet. An approximately three-minute video on a Facebook page dedicated to the birds shows the mother tending to the newborn shortly after its birth. ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Colorado firefighters use ladder truck to rescue bear in tree

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:05:02 MDT

Colorado firefighters use ladder truck to rescue bear in tree

The Associated Press

Updated May 20, 2013 01:05PM MDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. • It was a bigger-than-average tree rescue for firefighters in Colorado Springs. They had to use a ladder truck to reach a black bear after it fell asleep in a tall pine tree after being tranquilized Sunday. The bear weighed between 150 and 200 pounds. State wildlife division spokesman Michael Seraphin says a wildlife officer and firefighters put a harness around it. Then they lowered the bear to the ground as it dangled from the ladder. Tranquilized bears usually fall ou...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Utah wildlife crossing set to save hundreds of migrating deer

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:58:07 MDT

Utah wildlife crossing set to save hundreds of migrating deer

By Brian Maffly The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 06:58AM MDT

Kanab • Automobiles strike about 100 mule deer each year on a lovely stretch of U.S. Highway 89 in Kane County, killing up to 10 percent of the Paunsaugunt herd. Now officials hope a $2.6 million system of fencing and underpasses under construction will slash next fall’s roadside carcass count and make the road safer for motorists. In partnership with two state wildlife agencies, sportsmen, the county and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Utah Department of Transportation has ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:38:22 MDT

Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

By DINA CAPPIELLO The Associated Press

Updated May 14, 2013 09:38PM MDT

Converse County, Wyo. • Wind farms in this corner of Wyoming have killed more than four dozen golden eagles since 2009, one of the deadliest places in the country of its kind. But so far, the companies operating industrial-sized turbines here and elsewhere that are killing eagles and other protected birds have yet to be fined or prosecuted - even though every death is a criminal violation. The Obama administration has charged oil companies for drowning birds in their waste pits, and power compa...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Willard Bay aflame? Don’t worry, it’s intentional

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:42:47 MDT

Willard Bay aflame? Don’t worry, it’s intentional

By Bob Mims The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 08:42AM MDT

Is that Willard Bay aflame? Well, close. But the Utah Department of Natural Resources says you can move along; nothing to worry about. Those flames and smoke you may have seen Monday are intentional, a joint effort between the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and its sister agency, the Division of Wildlife Resources, to clean out the invasive Phragmites reed. That species has infested thousands of acres within the Ogden Bay Wildlife Management Area. Monday’s “prescribed fire” targ...

Saving Utah’s sage grouse

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Saving Utah’s sage grouse

By mark salvo and allison jones

Updated May 11, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Greater sage grouse endure icy winters and blazing summers on the high desert, subsisting on little more than wildflowers and tiny, bitter sagebrush leaves. Some flocks migrate over a hundred miles annually between summer and winter habitat. But every spring they arrive faithfully to their dancing grounds, called leks, to stage flamboyant mating displays. The largest grouse in North America, sage grouse are amazing birds. Nineteenth century travelers reported seeing huge flocks of sage grouse th...