Birders- My kids and I saw a beautiful adult rufous-morph red tailed hawk today in Ames. It was perched in a dead tree right along Hiway 30 near Duff Ave. We parked near the Ames Racquet and Fitness Club and were able to see it perfectly right above us as the sun shone on its breast really showing the rufous throat and bib. The rest of the bird was a dark chocolate brown with virtually no white seen while it sat. This is at least the 3rd consecutive winter I've seen a similar bird in very close proximity to this area in South Ames. Also saw my first Chipping Sparrows I've seen for awhile in my yard today. After seeing very few pheasants this Fall and Winter like most others have reported, I have recently had 10-12 roosters in my yard. Today I had two hen pheasants eating crabapples out of the trees in my front yard, something I have not seen before. Interesting to see so many males all together in one group. On Friday nite on IPTV I saw that they will be doing weekly spotlights on Iowa nature photographers. Obviously a few well-known folks that match this description are part of this list. Don Poggensee was featured this time--maybe we'll see more of our members soon! Art Check Nevada
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