With the breeze out of the northwest and probably the sun as enticement a lot of hawk activity could be observed. One kestrel perched on a swinging wire about a mile east of the town of Meadowlands along Hwy. 133, first I've seen in St. Louis County this year.
Most numerous were the rough-legged hawks, some of them paired, riding the air currents. Close to home I spooked a very sooty black, huge hawk off the power line and watched it circle on an escape route southeastward. For this one I had to check the Sibley guide once on getting in to confirm dark-phase rough-legged, not an every-day sighting, the kind that at first suggests something out-of-territory like--could it be?--the black hawk of the desert southwest? This is what spring is good for. Another local hawk yesterday was a red-tailed, not first of year. On a different but raptor-related note I would like to award anyone who can successfully point me to my first-ever screech owl (have heard them but never seen one) a small, life-like watercolor painting of that screech owl. Some common birds are especially hard to find. No captive screech owls, just a wild one in or near its roost. *Tanya Beyer* http://www.epiphaniesafield.com/home-page.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
