[SBB] Swainson's Hawk @ Ed Levin CP

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Hello SBBers,

 

This morning I hiked the Los Coches Ridge Trail at Ed Levin CP.  The one bird of special note and a county bird for me was a Swainson's Hawk.  It was in a thermal with three Red-tailed Hawks and they were moving from the NW to the SE. 

 

When I first noticed the birds circling above I thought all buteos, although one was noticeably smaller than the others.  When I got my bins on the birds, for just the first instant, I thought the smaller was a falcon because of the sharply pointed wings.  As I started to decipher which falcon, I realized that it was a buteo and that is was a Swainson's Hawk (SCL Co #264).  This individual was an intermediate in coloration.  A small terminal band could be seen a the tip of the tail.  The underside was dark, but the under wing pattern was noticeable, but not strongly contrasting as in some Swainson's Hawks that I've seen over in the Central Valley.

 

Other birds of some interest were White-throated Swifts(3), Red-breasted Sapsucker(1), Hermit Thrush(2), and Townsend's Warbler(1).

 

Sandy Wool Lake has been rather void of waterfowl other than Mallard/Mallard hybrids lately, but there was a Ruddy Duck and two Gadwall today.

 

Janet and I added a new bird to our yard list on Saturday, a Western Bluebird (#81).  It was perched on the wires, but it may have been interested in our Blue Elderberry, Bearberry or the neighbors Pyrocanthia.

--
Randy Little
Milpitas, CA

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