Saturday, December 08, 2007

RaptorPalooza

So I went to Armleder Park to see if I could get in on this "Raptor-Palooza" that seems to be going on there. As Kathi mentioned in her comment on my last post, there have been short-eared owls, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, rough-legged hawks, merlins, kestrels....I mean, come on. It's ridiculous how many birds of prey are hanging out there.
I had a busy day: First, go to Armleder and find me some hawks, then go get birds for a program, then come back and drop off birds and get kids, then go to the Cincinnati Zoo for the Festival of Lights. And I did it all.
My target bird for today was the rough-legged hawk.
And I saw it!

rough legged hawk from really far away
This is the best I could do...just as I was reaching a desirable distance for good photos, another hawk swooped in and flushed the rough-legged.
Click HERE to see a GOOD picture. They are beautiful!
Oh, well. I will be trying again tomorrow. Life bird #174! And my 14th bird of prey species.
1. Cooper's hawk
2. Sharp-shinned hawk
3. Broad-winged hawk
4. Red-tailed hawk
5. Red-shouldered hawk
6. Rough-legged hawk
7. American kestrel
8. Merlin
9. Peregrine falcon
10. Bald eagle
11. Barred owl
12. Screech owl
13. Great horned owl
14. Northern harrier.
Not bad.

Then, after the program and the kid exchange, we went to the zoo and met up with my best friend Shannon....it's her birthday today!
Shannon, no matter what, you will always be older than me. Remember when it was cool to be the older one?
hee hee

Three really cute kids
Three cute kids...and I made two of them.
Isabelle, Lorelei and Jake, my godson.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Festival of Lights is always so much fun!! Really miss that down here, our Zoo doesn't do much for the holidays. Kids look like they had a blast and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Shannon! :)

c/

Susan Gets Native said...

Hey, C....
If you make it to the party in a few weeks, bring me some Mint Chocolate Chip, huh?
You know, this is the first time we made it to the Festival of Lights since Isabelle was born? We talk about going every year, but have never actually got there until today.

entoto said...

I am so glad you got to the Festival of Lights. We need to get Vivi there since the last time we went she was about ten weeks old!

Mary said...

Oooooo, Festival of the Lights - that sounds like a thrill for me! And your list of raptors in one day is fantastic. *Not bad.*

And you do make the cutest kids.

Come back and help me with the hawk ID.

mon@rch said...

when you can turn a day into a bird of prey day like that! I would have been just as happy!

Susan Gets Native said...

Hang on a minute...I didn't see ALL of those birds of prey in one day! That's my raptor life list!