Two days ago I drove by
El Zacatel where a series of resacas provide excellent habitat for a good diversity of waterbirds, waterfowl and other species especially when there has been enough rain to fill them. Though some are dry now due to the drought there is still enough water to draw a lot of birds. Shortly after I arrived I spotted a hawk perched in a deciduous tree that looked very familiar--when I checked it with my binoculars I saw it was a Zone-tailed Hawk. Interestingly this location is about 10 miles from Frontera Audubon Center where I found and followed 2 Zone-tailed Hawks. Though not a known location where they are found as was Anzalduas County Park but it is only a few miles from the Rio Grande River and Mexico.
Clearly shown in both pics, the head and body are blackish. The bottom pic shows the white lores, black bill, and bright yellow cere as well as some of the umderside of the remiges that are gray with dark barring (the latter not well visualized). The top pic shows the white forehead and yellow legs. More in next post.
Note: I did not post this until today as I wanted to check at sunset to see if this location might be a roosting site as I would not identify the location if it was since I do not want to risk disturbance after the experience I had with the juvenile Zone-tailed Hawk apparently abandoning the roost site. I did not want to be at this location the last two evenings as it had been misting/light raining and I didn't want to drive back on wet roads in the dark. I checked tonight and did not see the hawk there at nightfall. SeEtta
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