Today was slightly warmer than yesterday but still just below freezing. There was a constant wind making it feel colder than it looked with the bright blue, cloudless sky. I was walking with a friend today and to my surprise, he pointed out an odd looking bird on the north side that turned out to be a Northern Shrike. It was kind of facing away from us for most of the time but turned it's head for this photo.
We would later spot him again -or possibly a second one on the other side of the park. Today's walk was dominated by Hawk sightings. We seemed to notice at least one every so often, usually with Crows or other birds nearby so it was possible the Crows were keeping them moving past us. On the southwest side we glanced up to see a pair of large Hawks circling high overhead.
They didn't seem to be Red-tails as they were strikingly white colored in many areas including the tail from both above and below. The eventually came almost right above us and showed us all their wing details. I'm definitely not a Hawk expert but I would guess that they were Rough-legged Hawks due to the very obvious difference in color near their "wrist" and to the black bands near the tip of the tail. The pair glided near each other once or twice but never managed to get a good shot of both of them at once. And if we hadn't had our share of Raptors for the day, we were in for one more treat shortly later on the south side.
We'd spotted a bright white patch way out in the middle of the park that turned out to be a mature Bald Eagle upon closer inspection with binoculars. Then we saw a second one, perched about the same height but in another tree further away. This one would nearly disappear when it turned it's head a certain way and we realized the second one was immature. Crows eventually flushed this one out, but he circled back and came to roost on the very same branch as the other one. Even from this distance their size was impressive. A good day for Raptors for sure.
This is a bird I've not seen since early February making it a fun sighting. It flew in and perched high above and was kind of in the sun and I had to try a bunch of different angles to get a photo. On the south side of the park my friend shouted to look up and there soaring not too far away was a very large Raptor. We both thought it was a juvenile Bald Eagle and I steadied my camera on it as it came soaring past us one more time. I guess I don't have a very good eye for Hawks because after I got home and looked more closely it was clearly a Hawk. But what kind? It was clearly not a Red-tailed as evident by the prominent dark patches referred to as "wrist patches" near the outer wings. Because of the rich, rusty red coloring I was guessing a Red-shouldered Hawk. My friend suggested a Rough-legged Hawk and upon looking through my new Stokes field guide, I found a photo that looked almost identical! 
I fell in love with this field guide upon first seeing it in stores but it is quickly proving itself to be the most useful guide I've owned so far. Not only does it have unbelievably detailed photos but there are anywhere from 4 to 8 photos showing juvenile and adult of both male and female! The field guide even helped me ID this bird as a female "light morph." One clue that I will try to remember now is that the Rough-legged has just one dark band across it's tail –different from both a Red-shouldered as well as other similar looking Hawks. This is only my second ever sighting of one. Near the end of our walk we spotted this White-breasted Nuthatch on a large cottonwood tree just inside the paved trail. 
In my opinion any bird that holds still and give me a good opportunity is worth a photograph. I find it very helpful to study the photo afterward and I often pick up on small details that you will rarely notice in the field. I think this is one of the better Nuthatch photos I've gotten!
