If you want to see magnificent birds of prey, try heading to open land, agricultural fields or lakes. Our destination was agricultural fields in the Mojave Desert.
When you are in this landscape, keep your eyes on telephone poles. All the beautiful birds we discovered were first spotted on these high perches. Finding a Peregrine Falcon is like finding the golden egg in an Easter egghunt. They have the distinction of being one of the fastest "animals" on earth.
The Prairie Falcon is another unique bird of prey seen infrequently. To tell these birds apart, you need to look at the details which set them apart from one another.
The adult Ferruginous Hawk was absolutely beautiful to see especially in flight. They are the largest hawks in North America.In flight, their contrasting colors of rufous, white and grey were stunning against the blue sky and distant mountains.
Like many birds, younger birds have different plumage. I was lucky that this young Ferruginous Hawk let me
get as close as I did before taking flight.
Most of the birds do this when you get too close!
Yesterday, we unexpectedly saw this little gopher pop his head out of the ground and grab a snack. We were at Lake Hemet far from the Mojave Desert. It reminded me of all the hawks and falcons I had seen the previous day who would have had their eyes on this underground critter.
A day spent outdoors is a great day,indeed!
