BIRDING TO THE EDG

Two days ago I spent some time north of Fort Collins, Colorado looking for wintering birds on the front range. I had been using my Nikon 82mm Fieldscope with a 30x wide-angle eyepiece and my brand new Nikon EDG bins! It seems as though everything is settling in as most of our wintering ducks have arrived such as both Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, and scoters popping up around the map. Gulls have been congregating and as always they allow for time consuming ID problems when nothing else is around.

North of Fort Collins I had run into my first Northern Shrike of the year. The only shrike that would be expecting at this latitude and this time of year. I noticed the larger, more robust bird that seemed lighter in color than the Loggerhead Shrike. A longer, more sharply hooked bill carved the way for this ID, but also noticed the black face mask cutting through the eye. In Loggerhead Shrike the mask covers the entire eye. Northern Shrikes are wonderful and they are active in nearly all types of weather.

As I continued past the shrike I noticed a Buteo sitting alone atop a telephone pole when I noticed it was an adult Ferruginous Hawk. Of course, they breed up here and winter in south US, central California, and northern Mexico. Some do winter in Colorado, but I usually do not find them with great frequency this far north.


Notice the amount of barring underneath. This is variable and usually coined with (heavy/lightly marked) phrase. Given its size I thought it looked a bit slim therefore assuming this bird to be a male. The large body size, white tail, gray hood, extensive rufous on some of the scapulars/wing coverts are things to look at here.

It may be hard to see, but the Ferruginous Hawk has a large gape that extends back behind the eye. No other Buteo exhibits this characteristic. These hawks are normally found perched on the ground in my experience, but doesn't mean they'll never sit on a pole.

These lovely birds a diminishing fast due to the transition of winter and breeding prairies being converted into agricultural lands. Please take note of this and do what you can to help out our prairie ecosystems. Check out Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory for more information!