Cobirders, I was one of many birders out at the Poudre River Trail today looking for the Red-shouldered Hawk. I arrived at noon and the reports were spotty and some mentioned the bird was no longer on the river, but off in private property. Eventually, joined by Joe Mammoser, we saw the juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk near where Gary Lefko had described yesterday (near where the trail turns back to the east after going south for a little ways). The bird was seen from the Poudre Trail but was in the Kodak Wildlife Viewing Area across the river. Joe and I had great looks at the front of the bird in good lighting for about 5 minutes in which we discussed the multiple good points for this bird being a Red-shouldered Hawk. The bird took flight and we were able to see the buffy crescents on the primaries confirming the ID. I have put together a Google Map for those interested in more information about the sighting and some description of the bird. We saw the bird for about 8 minutes in three separate locations, but lost it when it flew southwest farther into the Kodak Wildlife Viewing Area. The bird was likely still in the area, but we just couldn't see it from our location (which is included in the Google Map). If the bird remains in the same area, there is a nice bench that would be worth just sitting on and waiting for this bird to show up. I have marked it with a picnic table on the Google Map linked here:
http://tinyurl.com/ylncbek or http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=108271745942847292567.00047cd7aeea0f71432f8&ll=40.444044,-104.884833&spn=0.002009,0.005284&z=18 Good luck to those of you who go out viewing this bird, and thanks to those of you who have gotten the word out about this rarity. Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO
