Santa Ana Valley Rd, Hollister

had the most beautiful golden feathers

Tags:   Aquila chrysaetos

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Santa Ana Valley Rd., Hollister

This was the target bird for today, and we found many. Some lighter morph and at least one dark morph. We had seen just one a few years ago but I never had a chance to photograph one before. Not really the best day for light, but the raptor heaven that Debi Shearwater had announced in her blog this week was completely there. Within a very small patch of Santa Ana Valley Rd we found 2 bald eagle adults, more golden eagles that we could count, loads of redtails and kestrels everywhere, many ferruginous hawks, a few kites, and a bonus lifer - the prairie falcon.

Anyone with some big glass should get down there on the next sunny day available!

Tags:   Buteo regalis

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Quien Sabe Rd.

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Falco peregrinus.....We headed down to Hollister on Thursday to hunt for raptors and roadrunners. We found no roadrunners but plenty of raptor action - 5 Golden Eagles, 3 Ferruginous Hawks, loads of Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, and Kestrels too.

The most delightful find of the day was a pair of Peregrine juveniles that showed up on Santa Ana Valley Rd. The first falcon appeared very dramatically with a magnificent (even if unsuccessful) swoop at a flock of meadowlarks. After some great solo aerobatics and additional swoops, a second falcon flew in, and then the two of them harassed each other and played for ages. SO cool, so fun to watch. They are magnificent flyers.

Tags:   Falco peregrinus Hollister 7/26/12 Peregrine Falcon

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Quien Sabe East, Hollister

Tags:   Buteo jamaicensis Hollister, CA 1/31/14 Red-tailed Hawk

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