FERRUGINOUS HAWK
Picture credit: Melvyn Bruce.

Last Friday Mel and I went birding in the Butte Valley of California, just twenty two miles south of Klamath Falls, and just two of miles south of the Oregon border.

On our drive, from Klamath Falls, to the Butte Valley, along Hwy 97, we observed thirty one Bald Eagles along the east side of the highway, in about a two mile stretch! They were about equally distributed between being on telephone poles, and on the frozen farm fields. On our return trip, two hours later, most of them were still there!

The Butte Valley is well known for its abundance and variety of Raptors, the usual suspects being: Red Tail, Ferruginous, Rough Legged, and Swainson’s Hawks; Bald and Golden Eagles, Kestrels and Prairie Falcons.

Our trip turned out to be all we expected: good! The weather was perfect: the temperature was in the low forties, and the sky was perfectly clear and sunny. As for the Raptors, we saw many Baldies, one Golden Eagle, several Red Tails, and some really good close encounters with a Ferruginous Hawk, and a Kestrel. The ubiquitous Mule Deer were there too, but we were disappointed at not sighting any of the Pronghorn that are usually there.