Birding down the highway

Those of us who are avid, or some might say inveterate, birders can't stop ourselves from looking at, and for, birds during most of our daily activities. That includes driving down the highway at 65 or more mph (some sections of our interstate highways have 75 mph speed limits). Now that doesn't mean identifying small birds while driving at high speeds. For me, it mostly involves looking at raptors and other larger species.

On my way returning home from a trip to Pueblo, I saw 6 Red-tailed Hawks from Pueblo West to the Penrose area which is about 20 miles. Most were sitting on telephone poles adjacent to the highway. One of these was possibly a possible dark/rufous intergrade Red-tailed Hawk as it was dark brown overall with some rufous in its breast. That is the unfortunate side of birding at 65, you can't check out a bird to confirm a non-obvious id.

I also saw a Golden Eagle, shown flying with a scenic mountain back-drop in this photo. This photo illustrates the diversity of habitats in the area--the lowest part is short-grass prairie, there is pinyon-juniper covered hills just above it with a butte to the left, then foothills rising up to the mountain at the top (not pictured is the Arkansas River just a few miles to the south and the Pueblo Reservoir several miles to the southeast). See more Golden Eagle pics in the next post.



SeEtta