My fingers were so cold I forgot to type the location earlier this afternoon when I was at Game Farm Road and the Compost today from 3:30-4:30. It seemed like raptor-ville; so I thought I would post. Someone suggested I was looking at Short-eared Owls, which I had never seen before. (Thanks, Sue!) And now I'd like to amend what I saw. If anyone was out there today and can verify anything, please do!
I think I saw 6 juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, 2 juvenile SEOs, and 2 unidentified falcons. And they all looked so very hungry! I got a very good look (20 ft) at the gorgeous (black/grey/brown mix) feathers on the back of the SEO while it sat on the posts before they "disappeared" suddenly. I was looking up for them, and if they were owls, I now realize I should have looked down! And here is a link to a picture, which matches the colors of the birds back, which I definitely saw today, https://www.flickr.com/photos/teagden/4732173060/ I did not have the right angle or enough time to see its face and was distracted by the six hawks in the hedge row that caught the corner of my eye at the intersection of Dodge/Stevenson/Game Farm Road. They were buteo in form when flying, and many had a red tail when the sun was out. I watched them for about an hour as they hunted in the 200+ acres of fields surrounding me. The two smaller hawks showed up near the end of my time there, and I am still not sure after having looked in my bird book. They were very dark on top and white on the underside, falcon-shape, crow-size. I saw a similar-looking one circling over Sapsucker Woods pond one hour earlier, around 3:30pm. The closest look I got was about 60 feet in flight. Could it be the Peregrine??? Joyful birding! Sandy Wold ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sandy <sandra.w...@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 4:08 PM Subject: Many Hawks at game farm To: Upstate NY Birding <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> I think I am looking at 6 juvenile Red-tailed Hawks and saw two crow-size Hawks and one other hawk that is not a RTH. They are very active right now and have been resting on posts and on trees in the hedge row. Will try to identify later. Sent from my iPhone -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
