In search of more Roughies

Last Thursday my friend Paul and I left school at the 3:20 bell and headed out to check out some possible nest sites in the area and look for some of the Rough-legged hawks that have been almost common this winter. (We are going to lead and after school class about birding and raptors and were doing some "scouting".)  We headed east of Lafayette and then north on 119th and County Line roads, through Erie and finally north on Kenosha and Lookout to 109th before heading home.  The first nest site is within walking distance from school but I have not seen any specific activity on the nest yet, nor was there anything going on there today.  We soon saw a couple of Red Tails perched on high posts and trees.  Not too far down the road we saw a bird on a post and stopped on the narrow roadway to get a look.  It spooked easily and moved a few times, but never too far away. We could never get that for sure deciding look that confirmed it for us but am fairly certain it was a male Roughie.  Not too much farther was another similar looking bird that flew away before we got a good look.  The light was fading and we kept going.  We saw over a dozen birds, mostly likely Red Tails with a few possible Roughies, so a great hour long impromptu outing, before Paul turned east on Jasper to head home.  As I continued South on 109th I came upon a beautiful juvie Roughie (I think really the easiest one to identify) perched on one of those low posts very close to the road.  I tried to get a picture on my phone to send to Paul but the light was not quite sufficient.  As I made my way home, I saw two more Red Tails, likely staking out a nearby nest behind Arapahoe Ridge off the dirt 111th.

Roughies galore!

I went on an impromptu drive yesterday, intending to head east looking for Roughies, Ferruginous and Baldies, but instead ended following birds more north and west.  I headed north through Lafayette and behind Arapahoe Ridge saw my first official Red Tail of the year (surprisingly didn't see one on Wednesday) and set the scope up for the first time.  I headed east and immediately saw a very dark bird so I pulled over and grabbed the scope again, only to realize there was another Red Tail sitting right above me.  As I focused the scope the very dark bird flew and revealed itself as I suspected as a Harlan's.  I jumped in the car and tried to follow it back west but ended up finding a few more Red Tails and Kestrels before heading west on always reliable Lookout.  I had not gone far when I spotted a blob on one of the lower utility posts and immediately thought, "Rough-legged," as they tend to prefer the shorter roadside ones for some reason.  I was able to pull over directly across from it and get a great look. Why didn't I bring the camera?!  I kept on westward and as I crested the hill there was a huge blob in a small tree on the south side of the road-obviously an eagle, but no white head and I assumed juvenile Bald.  Trying to identify juvenile eagles is tough but I am fairly certain I was right as I got a good look at it flying and perched. I turned around and headed back east all the way down Lookout until it comes to a T and jogs right, where there were at least four birds around the field, including a beautiful Roughie who circled overhead for me to get a perfect view.  I zig-zagged through and around Erie, losing count of Red Tails, finding two more Roughies and two different adult Bald Eagles soaring.  Cruising back home down I-25 there were tons of perched Red Tails and probable Red Tails. Final count for the 90 minute drive was about two dozen RTs, 4 Roughies, 3 Baldies and 6 Kestrels (5 male-I read somewhere else that mostly males were being spotted and very few females but not sure of reason).  All in all a pretty successful first outing of the new year!  Happy Raptoring!