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I also caught the bird in flight:
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I also could've sworn I saw a Golden Eagle, but this is the only shot I got, and it's probably just a Rough-legged:
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This bird also did something that I thought only American Kestrels could do: it hovered in a fixed position in the air. It would hover for a few seconds, flap a bit and drop closer to the ground, then hover again, then flap and drop a bit again. It did it for probably a total of ten seconds. It was amazing! Of course, I was so busy being amazed that I didn't take pictures of that.
So all you raptor experts out there, please tell me - is there any way I saw a Golden Eagle this morning?
UPDATE: I'm told that hovering is a Rough-legged specialty, and that I most certainly saw and photographed a Rough-legged here. That's okay -- still a lifer!
Meanwhile, back to the Rough-leggeds. I also saw this bird:
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I'm assuming this is a Rough-legged too, but it's obviously a different bird from the first one I showed you. Note the crazy neck/breast coloring, and the dark patches on the undersides of the wings in the flight photo. He looks like he's wearing a scarf.
One more raptor:
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My bff Gretchen, who moved back to town Saturday -- YAY! -- and Laura and I went to try to see some Rough-leggeds and a Short-eared Owl that are supposed to be appearing almost nightly down by Huntingdon yesterday, but we only saw a young Northern Harrier hunting the grassy fields. No owl. I'm glad I ended up getting a Rough-legged though, for lifer number 289!
5 comments:
nice raptor shots! We have all 5 falcons winter here, but I hardly know an eagle form a red-tail!!!
You are correct in your ID of the Rough-legged Hawk.
Rabbits' Guy--well, I'm sure you know the most important thing about raptors: they eat bunnies! Take care! I once took Niblet out into the garden so he could play around within the fenced veggies, but I was so paranoid--I watched the skies like, well, like a hawk!
Rick--thanks, and welcome to the bloggy!
Great sighting of the Rough-legged Hawks. It looks like both of your birds are dark-morphs. Regarding the Red-tailed Hawk, a lot of the Red-tails that migrate south are darker than the ones we usually see at this latitude.
John--I tell you, I will never understand the whole dark/light morph thing. I saw a Red-tailed in Texas that was super light, but then there are dark ones down there too. It's confusing! I just look for the red tail.
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