Red-tailed Hawk (click to see the larger version)

I spent about an hour at Montrose this morning, December 7. The birds and birding feel mostly like winter, which means I didn’t have a lot of variety, but the morning wasn’t a total loss. I didn’t see the Snowy Owl, and it wasn’t seen yesterday, so perhaps it has moved on. I suspect there will be a few more this winter, judging from the numbers to the north of us. The large raptor highlight was the continuing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, which was dining on a rabbit near the Magic Hedge. This bird has been around for about a month and has no doubt made significant progress in reducing the rabbit population at Montrose. I also saw a young Great Black-backed Gull flying around the fishing pier, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a heard only Snow Bunting. There were birds inside the harbor too, including a lone lingering Horned Grebe, a handful of Greater and Lesser Scaup, and what looks like a young male Ring-necked Duck.