Rough-legged Hawk
This Rough-legged Hawk put on a brief but thrilling show for me today, facing into the wind to help it hover while scanning the land below for any small mammal prey. The wind was particularly strong thanks to the major storm currently impacting the Northeast region. Whichever one of the hawk’s eyes that was being battered by the wind the most was often covered by its nictitating membrane. This third eyelid is almost like wearing a pair of sunglasses for the raptor in that it can still see while the eye is more protected than it would be otherwise. It was also keeping the eye moist with...
Read MoreRufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl)
Now this is where flowers are supposed to be blooming! Here we have a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) hovering in for some nectar thanks to this tremendous photograph by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Costa Rica while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreWhite-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) by Twan Leenders
Here’s one for Throwback Thursday, a White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)! Well, sort of. Back in 2010 I had the honor of hosting thousands of birders for nearly 2.5 months from across the continent as they came to Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut to see the state’s first White-tailed Kite when Twan and I worked for Connecticut Audubon Society. I learned more about that individual than I ever could have imagined as I observed it for hundreds of hours nearly every day. It was the first for New England since the only other recorded occurred 100 years earlier at...
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