Our very first bird was a great horned owl - but we heard it before first light, so no real chance of a sighting never mind a photograph. However, one of our other early excitements involved some hawk drama - a sharp-shinned hawk and at least two Cooper's hawks that were hunting in the trees right above our heads. At one point the sharpie harassed a crow out of the tree next to us - impressive given its much smaller size
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| Sharp-shinned hawk |
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| Cooper's hawk |
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| Cooper's hawk |
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| Cooper's hawk |
It was a while until our next raptor sighting. First one than several turkey vultures:
Soon after that, our first red-tailed hawk sighting - being mobbed by a much smaller bird. Possibly a blue jay:
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| Red-tailed hawk |
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| Soon after the red-tail, we had our first eagle sighting - this immature bald eagle soared over our heads |
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| Another hour or so later, we saw an adult bald eagle |
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| One of the nice things about the long day of stationary birding was being able to see the same birds several times. We noticed that this red-tailed hawk had new tail feathers growing in |
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| It allowed us to recognize the same bird a few times |
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| Bald eagle over the river |
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| Red-tailed hawk (early afternoon) |
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| Mid-afternoon visit from a turkey vulture |
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| Distinctive tail again towards the end of the day |
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