I'd like to add a comment to Nancy's observations. In all the "up close" encounters I have had with Broad-winged Hawks (as opposed to seeing distant migrants at altitude), their behavior is much more reminiscent of accipiters than buteos. They seem to much prefer woodland habitats to open prairies.
On a recent Denver Museum outing to Jackson Lake SP, we were seeing numerous sharpies and Cooper's in the Russian olive groves on the west side of the reservoir. When another raptor flew right over us, we immediately assumed "accipitor", but when the bird landed, it proved to be a beautiful juvenile broad-wing. This was, from my experience, totally typical behavior for them. It was doing a great immitation of a Cooper's Hawk. Norm Lewis -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Oct 13, 2009 10:42 am Subject: [cobirds] Denver Broad-winged Hawks, Denver Co. Hi, Since several of you are posting here about Broad-winged Hawks seen in the last few days, I thought I'd mention retrospectively our recent experience with them. Friday, 2 Broad-winged Hawks flew out of the woods and over Frank and me, and a flock of Ring-billed Gulls, on the lakeside pier where we were standing. As they flew away, about 15 crows and magpies caught up with them, and mobbed and chased them back into the wo ods. Two days before that, one hawk that was being chased not only by the crows and magpies, but also a Ring-billed Gull, flew directly over us while we were walking on the Highline Canal not far from Friday's incident. Last May, we reported that a Broad-tail had flown over us about a half block from these locations. This or another Broad-tail was seen by a cobirder only a few blocks away two days before. In the few times we have seen Broad-winged Hawks, most have flown low and directly over us. We are curious to know if others of you have had this experience, and if this is typical Broad-wing behavior. Also wondering if these hawks have some sort of homing-like instinct, returning to old haunts. We did not put these recent sightings on coBirds since the hawks seemed to be coming from and returning to a fairly inaccessible community here. Nancy Hatch Denver --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
