I should add that the bird appeared to be an immature - the tail bands were thin and lacking the broader subterminal banding that adults have.
Eric ------- Eric DeFonso near Lyons, Boulder County, CO On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 10:33 AM Eric DeFonso <[email protected]> wrote: > Folks, > > After my morning bird survey south of Lamar got cut short because of > winds, I headed back to town and stopped by the Lamar Community College to > see if the cold north winds brought in any new late migrants. Things were > pretty subdued in the woods overall, but I kept perusing the south end just > in case. When I got to the far southwest corner of the woods, I briefly saw > a ZONE-TAILED HAWK perched on a snaggy cottonwood overseeing a relatively > open sage patch. It saw me of course too and didn't like that so it flew > off, but while it flew relatively low by me I got very good clear looks at > its bright yellow cere on the face of its large buteo head, differentiating > it easily from the Turkey Vultures it otherwise resembles in both aspect > and carriage. > > When I respotted it, it was ascending and starting to gather the attention > of the Mississippi Kites. I managed to get a number of shots of it, none at > all magazine-worthy, but a few do make it clear that it's a ZTHA and not a > TUVU. I'm still going through them now, and I will post those very soon on > my eBird checklist. > > https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S56868354 > > I don't think there's much chance it will re-appear at LCC today or > anytime soon - it sure looked like it was heading north of town (into the > headwinds, surprisingly). But who knows, maybe it will. In any case, if > you're in the area keep your eyes peeled and *check every vulture*. > > Good birding all, > Eric > > ------- > Eric DeFonso > near Lyons, Boulder County, CO > (currently in Prowers/Baca/Bent/Otero/Las Animas) > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAFjVA_bbVmkmKrmS81mhBUy_A07v%2BcO3x97tg_fu%3DDNBazi-fg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
