A Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) made a surprise appearance at Hogsback Acre on Tuesday, February 1. These raptors are a rare sight here. They are generally only seen soaring in the sky during breeding season. But this one was seen on the ground next to a brush pile that shelters cottontail rabbits before flying to a perch on the other side of the creek.
A snowstorm on Wednesday dumped about 10" of wet snow and generally made things look prettier. The snow, coupled with the continued cold, is making life difficult for the deer and pushing them to find new food sources, such as the compost pile and the bird feeders.
On Sunday, I saw an e-bird alert about a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) a couple miles north of here on Lamb Road. The report included photos of the owl perched on some farm irrigation equipment. I drove to the location about an hour after the alert was posted and saw the owl in the same location. Without the photo, I never would have seen this magnificent bird.
On the drive home, I spotted a Rough-Legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) as it left its perch on a telephone pole then swooped low over the open farm fields at Ragweed Farm. Like the snowy owl, the rough-legged hawk is a bird of the tundra. These impressive raptors make rare visits southward to prey upon the abundant rodents in the open fields. On Friday, we saw an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) a couple miles north of this location perched on a power line. I've seen kestrels in this location numerous times.
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