Focus Transitioned
Took a field trip to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of finding Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola). It was a partly sunny day with temperatures near 32F. Winter, snow, cold and clouds, has been the agenda for the past couple of weeks. Rails are more likely to be vocal on days with sunshine and near freezing temperatures. So, that was my logic.
So, I initially ignored the first birds encountered entering the Refuge at 1:30 pm: three Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), all of the nominate form, on power poles near Wildfowl Lane. Shortly thereafter spied a Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) hunting low over the grassland habitat…watched a quick plunge to the ground and it captured a small mammal. Nice, but thoughts and actions went back to primary objective. Parked immediate to Pond 6 mostly frozen over, but some, shallow open water areas in/around stands of cattail – perfect!
Northern Harrier with prey 
Northern Harrier hunting over grassland
After 30 minutes of extensive efforts mimicking their calls, no birds (not even Marsh Wren) answered back or appeared out of the sea of cattail. During this period hawks continued to fly and perch within sight of my static position. So, I went to Plan B, i.e. look at the hawks that seemed especially visible today.
This is what frequently happens when birding or other wildlife watching. You formulate a mental plan/objective for a specific species and on arrival at your destination there are other species more numerous, obvious distracting you. If you are smart, you segue to what opportunity the universe is currently providing 😉
So I went with the flow…and I was rewarded with views of a couple of dark phase birds: Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis harlani) and Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus). I did not have a photo of a dark-phase rough-legged in flight, that was really great!
Perched Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk 
Dark-phase Rough-legged Hawk in a soar 
Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk in flight
