Birds and Nature

I was driving back to Canon City from a long day in Pueblo so I took the scenic, and often more birdie, root via H96.  I spotted this hawk and got these 3 pics that show most of the field marks for this subspecies. These show the snowy white underparts that have scattered rufous feathers, white tail, the pale head and gray cheeks and some of the rufous shoulders and back found on this morph of Ferruginous Hawk.  Not visible are their feathered legs.  SeEtta

{To see all photos in this post click on Read More below} I spotted these 'wave clouds' developing this week when I was leaving Pueblo. Having seen this unusual type of cloud formation before I drove around to get the best view to get these photos. These are also referred to as rotor clouds and they are due to a rare phenomena caused by "Kelvin-Helmholtz instability" that is related to wind shear likely from strong winds near mountains. The clouds I photographed here were between the southwest edge of the city of Pueblo and the Wet Mountains seen in the background. SeEtta

Yesterday I drove east of Pueblo looking for Harlan's Red-tailed Hawks and any other raptors I could find. I was rewarded for my efforts with a total of 3 Harlan's, 1 Merlin and 1 Prairie Falcon in addition to 7 Western Red-tailed Hawks. This is the first Harlan's I found which was in far eastern Pueblo County. It was very, very skittish so the closest I could get for pics was 400-500 feet which put my extended zoom to it's max. And it only perched on trees on private property away from the public road. In addition to the mostly black plumage speckled with a little white as seen on these Harlanii Red-tails, the white loral area on the face of this dark morph Harlan's can be seen in these pics. In the middle pic though it shows a reddish tail you can see it does not have the light scapulars so distinctive on the backs of perched Western Red-tailed Hawks. SeEtta

I found this Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk at dusk when I took a detour on my way home from Pueblo. Given the low light and the fact I took these shots from my car with the engine running (I had only a few seconds to shoot these before it flushed) these pics came out better than I expected. In the top shot the white loral area is visible as is the whitish undertail and some white spots on it's otherwise blackish underparts found on an adult dark morph Harlan's. The blurry bottom pic does show the silvery flight feathers contrasted against it's dark body and underwing coverts and it's whitish tail.  SeEtta

There is just something pretty to me in the face of Prairie Falcons though I suspect their prey see a different picture. I found this one this afternoon on my way to Pueblo. Interestingly I also saw one in Colorado Springs two days ago. Also saw an adult Golden Eagle on my way to Pueblo today. SeEtta

I found this light morph Ferruginous Hawk in Pueblo County. This species is listed as 'Special Concern' in Colorado so I always enjoy seeing one of them. SeEtta

I was driving home at almost dusk when I spotted this big beauty flying in my direction. Fortunately I was on a county road with no traffic as I quickly stopped and got out with my big 400mm lens on my Canon 60d dslr to get this shot. I believe this is a third year bird (they attain adult plumage at age 5). SeEtta

There are hundreds of both white geese (Snow and Ross's) that have been added to the thousands of dark geese (primarily Canada) in Pueblo County, CO. In the top photo there is a 'blue' goose (the blue phase) right in the center. Since it finally got quite cold, there is a limited amount of open water so I found that potpourri of geese and ducks all crowded into this pond. SeEtta

I found this Rough-legged Hawk in Pueblo County day before yesterday. I believe it is a female light morph bird: thin dark eyeline with pale head, dark brown iris, streaked bib with dark belly, lightly barred leg feathers. Also the wingtips are about equal to the tail tip. In the bottom pic the white basal feathers on the upper tail are shown. This is only the second Rough-legged Hawk I have found so far this fall/winter, the other one located in the Coaldale,CO area. SeEtta

This is the second Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk that was I found perched not far from the dark morph Harlan's in the previous post. This one, unfortunately more distant so photos not as definitive (nor were my brief views in my spotting scope), is clearly not a dark morph but appears to be an intermediate morph. SeEtta

Yesterday I birded in Otero and eastern Pueblo Counties of Colorado. I returned to the location I found the dark morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk I posted here on October 15 and refound what seems most likely to be the same bird-same exact location, dark morph with similar markings. This time I was able to not only photograph it flying but also perched plus I got very good, albeit distant, views through my spotting scope. Interestingly I found a second Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk, a bird with different markings, about a half mile away from where this bird was flying and perching. This bird did not fly over to chase the other Harlan's off even though the second bird flew closer, about a quarter mile away. Interesting. Will post the other's photos next. SeEtta

Boy, I've been distracted by a problem with not being able to access a number of pics I took in So Texas-now recovered I can get back to posting starting with these pronghorn then later I will post some of those So Texas pics. I spotted these beautiful pronghorn as the leaders began crossing a state highway in front of me. I pulled over immediately as there were no other vehicles around and I wanted the herd to quickly get across before vehicles that usually travel well over the 65 mph speed limit came and put them at risk. This strategy worked but I had not realized just how many pronghorn were in the herd--right around 30 animals, which is one of the largest herds I have seen in western Pueblo County in recent memory. So it took them awhile to all, each following single file, to go under the fence on one side of the road then get across to the other side and safely get under the fence then into a field on the other side. And they did so safely though soon afterwards se...

I enjoy looking at Yellow-headed Blackbirds but thought this one looked a little goofy with it's legs spread so wide as it clutches the fence. It is likely a pretty stable position. SeEtta

I believe this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk is a dark intermediate morph. I also found it in southern Pueblo County. SeEtta

This afternoon I drove out to the grasslands of southern Pueblo County to see what migrants had returned. I found a flock of about 40 Chipping Sparrows, including this one, that are first of the season birds. SeEtta

These are good pics of the Western Meadowlark that I videotaped and posted clips for below. You can double click on each for very close-up views. SeEtta

This video clip of a Western Meadowlark I recorded recently in western Pueblo County really highlights the unusual vocalization , identified as the flight song (though being given from a perch), after the primary song by this Western Meadowlark--it will sing it's primary song several times then give a lengthy series of unusual vocalizatons that is it's flight song. Though the video portion isn't great due to backlighting, if you view it full screen you can see the birds bill, throat and tail move as it emits the unusual vocalizations(some sound very flute-like). SeEtta

I also found this small flock of Dowitchers feeding in an irrigation pond in Pueblo County yesterday. I believe these are most likely Long-billed Dowitchers but they didn't give any calls, the best way to separate them from Short-billed Dowitchers. Plus they were quite distant and the light dwindling as it was almost dusk so I was not able to make out the field marks necessary for an accurate identification. It is getting a little late for even Long-billed Dowitchers to be migrating through Colorado and some/all of these may be juveniles. In a larger nearby pond were 4-5 Snow Geese and lots of common waterfowl but they were even further away so photos were not good. SeEtta

I found this small group of Pronghorn in Pueblo County. SeEtta