Common Black Hawk, Teller Co.

[Todd Deininger]

The bird was observed all morning.at the dam and below at the first beaver dam. It was then flushed by someone trying get a photo. (See photo) Bird is on the beaver dam)

Bird has been found again downstream 

[Cinnamon Bergeron]

Yes,.I also got to see the Black Hawk!  It is a lifer!

I live in Colorado Springs.  I heard about the Black Hawk on Friday afternoon, but was unable to get away until yesterday (Saturday).  I drove out to Manitou Lake last night around 5:30 and the Common Black Hawk was at the pond.  I found it because right when I pulled into the parking lot, I got out of my car and overheard two birders telling another birder where to find it.  I talked to them and they were super excited to have seen it.  They told me to walk down the path north of the dam and look for the large group of people by the pond.  Then as I was walking down the path toward the pond, I passed by at least 7 more (3 separate groups) birders walking toward me after having seen it.  Everyone was so excited to have seen this Black Hawk.  By the time I got to the pond, there was no there.  The bird was easy to find.  He just sat there posing.  I took a bunch of photos, but they were pretty blurry since it was a ways off.

After about 10 minutes, I decided to see what else I could find.  There were Wilson Warblers galore... everywhere.  As I was closer to the dam, I saw the Black Hawk fly into a tree.  Then he took off and landed in a tree right along the water leaving the dam area.  He seemed to be fishing, I thought.  He was looking intently at the water.  He swooped down by the water and I couldn't see where he went.  I walked around to an area to try to see where he went.  The next thing I know, he flew out of a tree I was standing next to.  I hadn't noticed him there.  He flew back to the area by the water.  He stayed there for awhile and then swooped back down towards the water and then landed right below the dam.  He seemed to be eating something.  I walked up on top of the dam and could see him eating some type of crawfish.

Here are some photos.

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 9:30 AM Todd Deininger <goldene...@gmail.com> wrote:

The bird was observed all morning.at the dam and below at the first beaver dam. It was then flushed by someone trying get a photo. (See photo) Bird is on the beaver dam)

Bird has been found again downstream 

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[DAVID A LEATHERMAN]

Regarding the Common Black-Hawk first reported by Kevin Ash (thank you), and Cinnamon's follow-up report in particular, it is notable that this bird was mentioned as eating a crayfish.  This species of raptor is a crayfish specialist.  Some day I'd like to visit former Colorado birder Bill Lisowsky at his new residence of Tubac, AZ.  Tubac is famous for the concentration of Common Black-Hawks that appear there in spring.  Crayfish have to be part of the equation.  If anyone gets a photo, taken without scaring the bird and messing up the viewing for other birders, that shows this Manitou Lake bird with a crayfish, I'd love to see it.

"The Hungry Bird" column in "Colorado Birds" covered crayfish in the April 2014 issue (v48(2)), and Common Black-Hawk was mentioned among the many birds that eat crayfish.  But since it is so rare here, I had no Colorado experiences or photos to include.

Thanks,

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

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From: cob...@googlegroups.com <cob...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Todd Deininger <goldene...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2020 9:29 AM
To: co-birds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [cobirds] Common Black Hawk, Teller Co.

 

The bird was observed all morning.at the dam and below at the first beaver dam. It was then flushed by someone trying get a photo. (See photo) Bird is on the beaver dam)

Bird has been found again downstream