Harlan's Hawk in Penrose

Yesterday I found the adult dark morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk in Penrose, a small town east of Canon City in this photo. It was a few hundred feet away so it was a stretch even for new 12X Panasonic digital camera to get a reasonable pic. As can be seen, the hawk was mostly black with a white bib on its' chest. Not really viewable in the photo, much of the undertail feathers was white without any red.

The Harlan's subspecies is rare in Colorado. As skittish as Red-tails are, this hawk was even more so. I stayed in my car and was more than 200 feet away, but it flew off onto private and inaccessible property when I took one photo (presumably due to hearing the electronic noises the camera makes). I returned to the area today but could not refind this hawk.

Even tho temps were in the fifties yesterday and today, there is little open water in ponds or Brush Hollow Reservoir. Today I watched an immature Coopers Hawk harrass an American Kestrel flying nearby. I saw hundreds of bluebirds in the Penrose area, most are Mountain Bluebirds but some Western and at least 2 Eastern Bluebirds yesterday.

I was treated to the singing of an American Dipper last night along the Arkansas River east of Canon City. Tonight both dippers chased each other, emitting their distinctive calls. Possibly this reinforces the pair bond.