Ferruginous Hawk

There is no single easy ID on the ferruginous hawk; there are three or four, and you learn them one trip at a time.

The call is the cheap win, the thing you pick up first because you don’t need the bird to sit still for it.

I avoid published counts of population estimates here. My interest is a sightings journal, not a density map.

I’ve had good looks during fall migration on ridges and less consistent luck at coastal stopovers.

If I had to explain what pulled me into birding, I’d point at a ferruginous hawk and not try to say more.