Vulture’s, Hawk’s, Caracara’s and Falcon’s

Posted on December 7, 2013 by birdquest2004

I have to admit one of the great things about birding road trips is the number of Raptors that you can see on any given trip.

Over the last 9 days spent in the Southwestern USA, I saw Red-tails in ever color and shade, Swainson’s, Ferruginous, Gray, Red-shouldered, Osprey, Harris, Sharp-shinned, Coopers, Northern Harriers, Kestrel’s and both species of Vultures.

Painfully obvious thought to me was the total absence of Kites and Eagles. Disappointing for sure. I was hopeing to improve on some images.

Below are just a few of the better images…

Black Vulture

BlackVulture2013Blog

Cooper’s Hawk – Juvenile

CoopersHawkJuvenileBlog

Crested Caracara

CrestedCaracaraBlog

Harris Hawk

HarrisHawkBlog

Kestrel

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Peregrine Falcon

PeregrineFalconBlog

Turkey Vulture

TurkeyVulture2013Blog

But the weirdest by far was an Albino Raptor that I figure is a Red-tailed but can’t be sure….taken from an extreme distance.

MysteryRaptor2013Blog

Ciao for now…

Posted in Birds, Trips | 2 Comments

Black-throated Gray Warbler – #237 Ottawa

Posted on December 4, 2013 by birdquest2004

I’ve just returned from a fairly successful trip to California, Arizona and Texas, Tuesday morning at 2am.

I’d gotten up early for a union meeting at 9am and was totally surprised when I got a text message that a Black-throated Gray Warbler had been seen in the Vanier Road area.  I just had no way of getting out of this meeting and would have to wait until the next day.

This warbler is normally found in summer, in southwestern North America and winters in southwestern Mexico. 

It could have been trying to stay ahead of snowstorm that hit Ottawa and region, November 27th. The storm originated from California and was massive.  On my trip south, people were talking about the amount of rain and heavy winds, associated with this front.  That could be one of the reasons, this bird is so far from home or its internal compass is a bit screwy.

On my way to the area where this bird was being seen, I got confirmation it was still there.  It took a few minutes to locate the bird because it moves around quite a bit.  A real beauty.  I had my Lumix and managed a few distant images. Bird #237 for Ottawa and bird #476 for the year.  I may get to 500, with a good bit of luck.

Black-throatedGrayWarblerBlog

Black-throatedGrayWarblerBlog2

 

Below is a close up image, from a past trip to Arizona

Black-throatedGrayWarblerOrigBlog

Ciao for now

Posted in Ottawa Birds | Leave a comment