The past two days were highlighted by three birds we've been waiting to see for weeks: a group of Evening Grosbeaks, a Golden Eagle, and a Rough-legged Hawk!
We have been getting increasing reports of Evening Grosbeaks to the north of us, and on November 4th, we finally got 8 of our own for a brief and beautiful few minutes at the platform feeder. They didn't stay much more than 5 minutes, but it was wonderful getting to see them! As is the case with several other species we've seen this year, they are an irruptive bird and are not seen here every year. In fact, they are even more rare to see than many of the other irruptive species, not coming to this region on as regular of a basis.
While Golden Eagles are seen every year at Kiptopeke (in small numbers, usually no more than 5 or 6 and generally not 'til November), they seem to incite a kind of fervor in people. I've been hearing mutterings of "When will the first Golden Eagle arrive?" almost since my first day of work on September 1st! I must admit that I haven't been immune to Golden Eagle fever; when we spotted it today, there may or may not have been some gleeful jumping up and down occurring...
The Rough-legged we saw on November 4th might be considered even more of a special guest. As many of you may know, several hawkwatches to the north and west have been getting record numbers of Rough-legs this year, which caused us to wonder if we would indeed see our own. The last time a Rough-legged was spotted at Kiptopeke was 2017 (a year in which 4 were seen); prior to that, the last sighting was 2013, then 2008...in other words, this is definitely not an every year bird here! However, according to our records, when Rough-legs do show up, they often bring friends; many of the years they've been sighted here, there has been more than one counted. So, keep your fingers crossed - perhaps we'll see a few more!
