hi:

matt bartels points out swainson's should not be here this time of year and
the birds i saw were likely rough legs. i can only say the birds we saw
did not appear to have feathered legs, but i was never able to see the
bottom sides of the birds as they stayed close to the ground. all the
birds i saw did have white at the base of the tail, which makes them likely
rough legs. i did not have access to any of the specialty hawk books at
the time, but looking at wheeler leads me to think it's likely the birds
(that that word is plural lends more credence to the rough leg postulation)
are rough legs.

an interesting article on confusing swainson's with rough legs appears at
http://cobirds.org/CFO/ColoradoBirds/InTheScope/30.pdf .

anyhow, they are gorgeous birds.

regards.,

t


--
dave templeton
fall city, wa

crazydave65atgmaildaughtcom

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today; it's already tomorrow
in Australia." Charles Schultz
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