I had a great day counting the raptors today atop Duluth. The morning started out a little slow, but once the light east breeze kicked around, raptors really made their way through. Counting raptors is such a fun time! As a result of calm conditions turning into sustained east winds, I had to switch sites this morning - starting at the "Enger Tower site," and move to the "Thompson Hill site." As soon as I went in my vehicle and headed towards Thompson HIll, one of the local Peregrine Falcons flew no more than 50 feet overhead. It was so cool!
The first raptor of the day (today) was a Gray Ghost; a term you might hear during a visit to Hawk Ridge. A "Gray Ghost" is an adult male Northern Harrier. They have deep silvery-gray backsides to the wings, with snow-white undersides. When viewed in flight, especially at a distance, the subtle overall flashes of gray-white-gray-white are very striking! One of the biggest highlights of my day today was spotting a partial-albino Red-tailed Hawk. I was at Thompson Hill, looking at the lake, when suddenly something caught my peripheral vision in the northeast direction. A white (yet red-tailed) bird flew by. It was fun to see this bird zip by so closely. It couldn't have been more than 150 feet out as it passed over the road, just a little above eye-level. I didn't have my camera out in time, but grabbed the camera, and quickly sprinted down the hill, to see if I could get a few document-able photos. Here are some shots of that bird, which were taken as it was circling a great distance away: http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/133579551 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/133579553 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/133579555 In case you're interested, here is what I observed today while scanning the skies for raptors... https://www.hawkcount.org/day_summary.php?rsite=543&ryear=2011&rmonth=03&rday=31 In the near future, I will be posting some pictures/happenings from trips throughout this past week, plus sightings and maybe some photos from my visit to the bog tomorrow. It sure is fun seeing migrating birds moving into the area. An American Robin was caroling his little heart out this afternoon just outside of our house :-) Good birdwatching, Erik Bruhnke Duluth, MN -- *NATURALLY AVIAN* - Bird photography and guided birdwatching tours www.pbase.com/birdfedr www.naturallyavian.blogspot.com [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
