COBirders,
I was out in my Longmont backyard playing frisbee with my son when I had a low flying raptor cruise over my roof. I watched the bird sail away onto the next thermal (still in view) before I ran for the binoculars and got nary a look. From my initial impression, the bird had a short looking tail with very wide wings (front to back; probably making the tail look even shorter). The tail was barred black and white with a strong subterminal band of black (thicker than the rest). The bird showed reddish coloration on the chest due to the barring. Head did not protrude much past the wrists. There was an obvious black edging on the wings and larger black areas on the wing tips. The rest of the underwing seemed light in color. The bird was seen well from below with great late afternoon sunlight.
It seemed like a pretty nice flight for 50 minutes while I was out there with binoculars in hand. The other highlight was a fast flying, non-stop-flapping prairie race Merlin. The rest of the bird list follows.
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 2
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) 1
Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
-- Northern Flicker (intergrade) (Colaptes auratus luteus x cafer) 1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Merlin (Prairie) (Falco columbarius richardsonii) 1 Barred tail showing a wider black subterminal band. Flight was straight, strong, and never gliding or soaring. Bird was lighter colored on the underside than I would expect for taiga or pacific race with variable sized barring in the tail still showing appreciable amounts of white.
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 3
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 2
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 1
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 2
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 6
I was out in my Longmont backyard playing frisbee with my son when I had a low flying raptor cruise over my roof. I watched the bird sail away onto the next thermal (still in view) before I ran for the binoculars and got nary a look. From my initial impression, the bird had a short looking tail with very wide wings (front to back; probably making the tail look even shorter). The tail was barred black and white with a strong subterminal band of black (thicker than the rest). The bird showed reddish coloration on the chest due to the barring. Head did not protrude much past the wrists. There was an obvious black edging on the wings and larger black areas on the wing tips. The rest of the underwing seemed light in color. The bird was seen well from below with great late afternoon sunlight.
It seemed like a pretty nice flight for 50 minutes while I was out there with binoculars in hand. The other highlight was a fast flying, non-stop-flapping prairie race Merlin. The rest of the bird list follows.
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 2
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) 1
Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
-- Northern Flicker (intergrade) (Colaptes auratus luteus x cafer) 1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Merlin (Prairie) (Falco columbarius richardsonii) 1 Barred tail showing a wider black subterminal band. Flight was straight, strong, and never gliding or soaring. Bird was lighter colored on the underside than I would expect for taiga or pacific race with variable sized barring in the tail still showing appreciable amounts of white.
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 3
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 2
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 1
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 2
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 6
Any questions, let me know.
Bryan Guarente
Instructional Designer
The COMET Program
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO
Instructional Designer
The COMET Program
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO
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