I want to share with you all my two favorite birds caught in the last week!
First is the Black Phoebe. This is a species that we see at Palomarin every single day, but this is the first time I have seen one in the hand. So, when I heard over the radio that French was bringing a Black Phoebe to the banding station, I was pretty excited and here is what I got to see.
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| Black Phoebe, a good photo to compare against the Eastern Phoebe in previous posts [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
The other highlight was this second year, male Sharp-shinned Hawk. I saw a lot of these at Hawk Ridge this fall, but it is a nice treat for Palomarin. Also, a majority of sharpies caught are hatch year males, so it was nice to have a second year bird in the hand!
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| Luke attempting to make this SSHA look at the camera [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
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| Here is a good look at the orange/red iris of a male second year Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
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| Note the dark cap and nape, and the rufous (horizontal) barring on this second year SSHA, as well as the orange/red iris as seen before [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
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| Here you can see the blue back and upperwing coverts on this second year Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
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| Another look at the orange/red iris, rufous barring on the chest, and overall 'buggy-eyed,' or large eye-size to head-size ratio, appearance of the Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter] |
That's all for now, but check back soon for more updates!
By Cory Ritter
