Beating Traffic

I left work a bit late yesterday, and rolled the dice hoping the traffic on Highway 36 from Louisville to Broomfield would have released. Oops, seeing nothing but taillights ahead I ducked off the turnpike and headed for the dead-end road in western Broomfield to see if any birds were about as daylight faded and the traffic cleared.


Just as I turned onto the quiet road I was buzzed by a large white raptor. It cruised low along the ground and stopped on the small hill a couple hundred yards away and directly in line with the setting sun.
Earlier in the day area birder Paula had likely ID'd a large light bird as a possible Ferruginous Hawk in Louisville, but hadn't gotten 100% confirmation. These shots, while bad, do confirm that a large, light morph Ferruginous Hawk was in the area yesterday.



Was it the same bird? We'll never know for certain, but whether there were one or two in the area yesterday they are certainly fun to see. Hopefully they'll hang around long enough to offer a few better pictures in the days or weeks to come.