I had a very large hawk circling my chicken house and yard for a couple hours today. It made several dives toward the chickens who wisely all ran for the hen house and hid. It stuck around for some time, apparently hoping one would emerge.
At first glance it appeared to be a Ferruginous, which are fairly common in my immediate area, but I have never known one to go after my chickens. More often than not, I usually see them going after prairie dogs, and snakes. Because of the behavior, it makes me wonder if this was a very pale Red-tailed (although it seemed too large for a Red-tail) or Rough-Legged hawk looking for chicken dinner. I'm probably the most beginners of beginners, so I will do my best to describe it. At times it was only about 30 - 50 feet above me in the air. Perhaps someone has an idea of what it might be. Looking from the ground up, the hawk looked very pale, whitish breast and wings, except for the strongly contrasting black wing tips. From below, the head appeared the same light color as well, although I could see a little light brownish hints around the chin and eyes. The underside of the tail was similar in color of the under body. I caught a flashing glimpse of the top of the tail and it was a very pale, pinkish color, similar to what I have seen on some Ferruginous hawks in my area. I wish I could remember if there was a black band on the tail, I don't think so. My memory says no, solid, pale tail feathers, light whitish on bottom, pale pinkish on top. The underside of the wings were also white or very pale, except that there was a darker color (not solid, more speckled or patchy, and I wouldn't call it streaked) starting about where the wing wrists are. This same color in small patches seemed to go all the way to the shoulders, except that the patches got smaller and the color paler the closer to the shoulders it got. The black wing tips looked very black against the white under body and wings that was made even more vivid with the contrast of the deep blue sky. I did not get a good look of the bird's back, so I can't say what color it was. At times, it would break away from circling and diving toward my chicken house and go out and circle the lake, but always coming back to my yard. It finally rested on one of my old cottonwood trees and watched while I locked the chicken house up with the chickens in it. Last I saw, it was heading west over the lake. I live in a tiny, historic community near Mead called Highlandlake. The lake's name is Highland Lake. I'm on Weld County Road 5 between CR 34 3/4 and 36. Thanks, Pauli Smith --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
