Well, I didn't end up following through with this one, but am rededicating myself to trying it again and focusing on shorter posts as I see birds or interesting items. This time of year is always motivating for "raptoring" between a coming new year on the heels of the football season winding down, not to mention the growing number of Ferruginous, Rough-legged and Baldie sightings. I will also be leading an after school "Birds of Prey" class at school in January and February.
I haven't taken much of a driving tour yet, but I did see my first rough-legged hawk of the season on 287 last week. From the variety of post on various sites on the internet, it sounds like the Roughies are out in abundance this year, although the Ferruginous are still fairly infrequent.
The Red Tail Hawks appear to be guarding their nest East of Rothman Open Space, although I haven't seen them actually on or working on the nest yet. I am starting to scope out other nest sites as I drive and noticed a Red Tail sitting on a nest at Flatirons Golf Course, near the Northwest corner and easily visible from the car on Arapahoe.
I have seen a few Harriers around Rothman and have seen a GHO a few times, plus there were a few Bald Eagles hanging out on Lookout Road when I drove back from Boulder last week.
However, the best sighting of the winter so far was on the Pearl Street Mall where we happened upon a crowd staring up into the trees and sure enough, there was a fairly large hawk feasting upon a pigeon. You could see the red flesh in his talons and downy feathers were floating around as if someone had just finished a pillow fight. At first I got a little excited and thought it might be a young Northern Goshawk, which sometimes stray into town, but after a good look at the general coloration, belly markings, long tail and most importantly, square head, it was definitely a Cooper's and from the conversation among some in the crowd, a frequent visitor to the Pearl Street Pigeon Cafe.
Happy Raptoring!
