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Featured Photo  Who Am I? Pic-of-the-Week Click on photo for ID. .  Double-crested Cormorant See Roger Hall's scientific illustrations at http://www.inkart.net/art/wildlife_art/birds/  Birds In Art |
Rare Hawk Visits Pendleton We've all been there before: a bird pops into view unexpectedly and we 'freeze' trying to decipher what just whizzed by. This happened to me on Friday afternoon, April 13, 2012, as I was doing lawn mowing chores at my home, which is located about 3 miles east of Pendleton. I'll never forget the image of this breathtakingly beautiful hawk (the size of a Red-tailed Hawk) sailing inches above our house roof line as it made a strafing run on birds at our feeders. Nothing in my birder ID memory banks clicked as it flew by, but the clearly visible white rump patch told me this had to be a Rough-legged Hawk, probably a dark phase. Thus began an odyssey that still has not played out three days later. The hawk ended up hidden in a fir tree above the feeders so I just kept mowing while occasionally looking at the tree. After a few minutes the bird vacated the tree and flew to a nearby telephone pole where it watched me mow my lawn for another three or four minutes. Now that was odd! What kind of hawk watches someone mow their lawn? Intrigued now, I walked inside, got my binoculars and asked my wife...(see full story). Birding in New Zealand At the April meeting of the Pendleton Bird Club, Barbara and Andrew Clark gave us a view of a part of the world that few of us have visited with a program entitled, "Birding in New Zealand: Endemics, Endangered, Extinct." -- Birds, Travel Experiences, Conservation, and the story of "Old Blue - The Rarest Bird in the World". Their trip was a long one, starting in India for three months, then to New Zealand for six weeks and on to Australia for another six weeks. The program given to the Pendleton Bird Club was primarily on the New Zealand part of the trip. New Zealand is a bit larger than Wyoming and consists of two main islands and many smaller islands around the coastlines. The Clark's travels took them from the northern-most point of the North Island at Cape Reinga to the southern-most point of the South Island and then across the Foveaux Strait to Stewart island, where the next thing to the south is...(see full story).
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