Raptor Wednesday

Always note the anomalies, the bumps.Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) on railing. Showing the “belly band” nicely. Way down in the flatlands, 1st & 40th, Raven country.Another day, another sighting. Big shoulders, relatively short, squared-off tail. The mottled white patches on the back, sometimes a little more clearly in a V pattern, are another good sign you’ve got the most common soaring hawk in the country on your local antenna. More belly band.Same day as the second hawk, and I think a different one.

My raptor radar usually turns on when I see a flock, of pigeons or starlings this time of year, swirling in the air. Flocking is a excellent method of confusing and defeating a predator; the raptor doesn’t know which way to turn, which bird to single out. Consider the flocking metaphor for humans as political actors in scary times. It’s really a way of working together. United we fly…