Adventures in Birding

game lands, #34-36

We had another pretty good day of birding! My sister came to visit and we went to the nearby game lands where I spotted the Rough-legged Hawk earlier this week. We saw it again! None of us got any good photos but we all got a good look at it (My sister and I met up with another birder and his daughter who were looking for the same hawk). While there, I got three new species for the year, #34, Red-wing Blackbird, #35, Northern Harrier, and #36, Swamp Sparrow.

The Swamp Sparrow and Northern Harrier were both surprises. Swamp Sparrows aren't normally found in our area in Winter (they pass through in Fall and Spring during migration) and the Northern Harrier has been in that spot before but it was surprising to see it right after seeing the Rough-legged Hawk. I would think they would be rivals as they're about the same size and after the same prey! (They even look similar but while the Harrier has a white patch on its rump, the hawk's tail is actually white. It's easy to confuse the two.)

Tomorrow Ivy and I are headed to see the Snowy Owl again (she hasn't seen it yet this year), and there have been a few sightings of a Red-headed Woodpecker in the area, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that we might get to see that one, too!

It was barely in the double digits in temps today but it didn't feel too terrible in the sunlight. There wasn't much wind, too. It looks like it could be in the 50s again by next weekend! Our winters tend to be a bit all over the place, but we're really dealing with extremes this year it seems!