Posted by: atowhee | October 22, 2014

KLAMATH RAPTOR ROUND-UP

big gape

geag lands1 (1280x960)
MERLOOK1
The three inmages above are: first, a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk. Gape at that gape for awhile. Our most handsome buteo according to many raptor watchers. Second, an immature Golden Eagle landing. Notice the calm demeanor of the nearby dabbling ducks. If htat were a Bald Eagle there would be panic and mass lift-off. Golden Eagle prefers land animal such as rabbit and ground squirrel. Third: if you were a vole or House Finch looking at this face you would be two seconds from oblivion. This is the glare of a Merlin, male of the columbaris columbarius subspecies, called either boreal or taiga. Allthese birds were seen by Peter Thiemann and I in the Klamath basin today.

rlh standz
Above: one of three Rough-legged Hawks we saw. More will be arriving in weeks to come.
Below is on eof nealry 100 Red-tailed Hawks we saw today.
rth on bar We saw about Harrier but none were close enough for a good photo.

The only seated Bald Eagle we saw today.
bald on pst1

ferrugape1
Details from both ends of the Frruginous dark morph.
ferru-tail
DRK-FER TAKEOFF (1280x960)DRK-FER FLIZ
Ferruginous dark above, Ferruginous usual below:FERRU LEANZ1
FERRU LAUNCHES

GEAg takes-off1 (1280x1074)Golden Eagle leaves perch.

geag takes-off2

Golden Eagle profile in flight:
eagl profile1
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Golden Eagle
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Raptors: we saw nearly 150 today. Is that a rapture of raptors? A congress? A rally? Revelation? Revelry? Regiment? Rendezvous? Round-up? A hunt of raptors? Or a scan? A predation even? Or a preyer of raptors?

NOT JUST RAPTORS

We did find one male Eurasian Wigeon in a shallowly flooded field across the stateline (in Oregon) from the pumping station in California at 10242 Stateline Highway. It’s the dark headed figure just to the right of the left-hand gap:
eur wig
Below: one of two Great Horned Owls at Intersection F on the Lower Klamath NWR Auto Tour Route in California:
gho in limbz
More to Klamath Ciounty right now that mere birds. have a little aspenglow:
colourz


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