Hawk - Johnson County Wyoming

[okaugust]

Doing some traveling back to my former home area of Sheridan/Johnson County, WY. Our Audubon chapter there did a book launch for a children's bird book one of our board members wrote with my photos in it, which was exciting, but what I was most thrilled to do was see some friends and go birding at my old haunts, so vastly different from the Pac NW. Greater-sage grouse, lek, grassland/sage area IBA we set up, the monthly bird walk spot, all incredible still.

I was on my way south now in CO for my daughter's master's grad from CU this week (I know, that's a lot of detail you don't need but hey, it's working up to be a great week lol) and just leaving the IBA, took a side road out of in the grassland area working southeast of Buffalo, WY and ambling down a dirt road in the RAV when this hawk flushed from a culvert. My immediate thought was it was a harrier, because the over tail markings were dark edge, white band, dark top, but then it perched and my exhausted eyes (18 hour drive from the coast Friday) realized it was a buteo, I chalked it up to a Red-tailed Hawk as that's default, and kept going, but the more I look at it and the more I think about the tail band, I wonder if it might be a Broad-winged. They were not common but did pop up during migration when I lived there. However I've only ever seen them 2-3 times, so not all that familiar.

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

[Quiscalus quiscula]

Swainson's Hawk.

[okaugust]

12 hours ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

Swainson's Hawk.

Thanks much!