Rough-legged Hawk - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. February 8th, 2012. All pics taken with a Panasoni Lumix FZ40.
'Red' Fox Sparrow - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. February 8th, 2012.
Susannah was in need of a ride down to UMassAmherst this morning which was all I needed for another excuse to go and look at the Hadley Rough-legged Hawk. I found the bird straight away sitting on the grass berm between the fields and actively hunting down into the ditch below. It seemed to be in good shape, no signs of distress and I later saw it 'kiting' and sparring with American Crows by the river. It remains absurdly tame, sometimes getting dangerously close to the traffic on North Cross Road.
Since it was yet another lovely (spring-like) morning, I decided to take my chances on another local scarcity, a Clay-colored Sparrow found over a week ago by Ian Davies. Despite being reported multiple times since Ian's find, I had no luck with the Clay-colored but did have a nice 'Red' Fox Sparrow in exactly the same spot that Scott Surner and I saw one on the Northampton Christmas bird count back in mid-December - the same bird perhaps? This morning was especially sweet as the Fox Sparrow burst into song several times whilst I was there. Other than that, just lots and lots of American Tree Sparrows, and an American Kestrel with prey on the drive out.
JPS
1 comment:
Sorry to hear you missed the clay-colored. However finding a Fox Sparrow around here in February is a very nice find.
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