Rough-legged Hawk In Forest Grove, Oregon - December 2023
Yesterday, we did our first Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with a couple of advanced birders in a section of Forest Grove, Oregon. The first part of the day was solid fog, fog, and more fog. We could not consistently see more than 75-100 feet, so counting the birds was pretty much...hey, there's a bird...oops, there went a bird...oops, there's a few more similar looking birds...then checking with the other people we were with, comparing notes and attempting to accurately document how many Steller's Jay (for example) did we just experience?
It was fun. Really! It was fun. It was also very cold for Forest Grove, just above freezing. Yes, to many folks in other parts of the world, us being cold at 34 degrees Fahrenheit makes us wimps, oh well.
Anyway, towards the afternoon, the fog lifted a bit and we started being able to count the ducks, geese, and raptors a whole lot more accurately.
Within the last 10 minutes of our CBC, we were on the way back to the other folks cars (we were carpooling) and we notice another Red-tailed Hawk alongside the road. We pulled off the road, hopped out of the car to see the Hawk, and then realized it was a Rough-legged Hawk, rather than a Red-tailed Hawk. The first one that we had seen all day.
What a TREAT!
Rough-legged Hawk In Forest Grove, Oregon - December 2023
Yesterday, we did our first Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with a couple of advanced birders in a section of Forest Grove, Oregon. The first part of the day was solid fog, fog, and more fog. We could not consistently see more than 75-100 feet, so counting the birds was pretty much...hey, there's a bird...oops, there went a bird...oops, there's a few more similar looking birds...then checking with the other people we were with, comparing notes and attempting to accurately document how many Steller's Jay (for example) did we just experience?
It was fun. Really! It was fun. It was also very cold for Forest Grove, just above freezing. Yes, to many folks in other parts of the world, us being cold at 34 degrees Fahrenheit makes us wimps, oh well.
Anyway, towards the afternoon, the fog lifted a bit and we started being able to count the ducks, geese, and raptors a whole lot more accurately.
Within the last 10 minutes of our CBC, we were on the way back to the other folks cars (we were carpooling) and we notice another Red-tailed Hawk alongside the road. We pulled off the road, hopped out of the car to see the Hawk, and then realized it was a Rough-legged Hawk, rather than a Red-tailed Hawk. The first one that we had seen all day.
What a TREAT!