Normally, I'd write this entry the same day I saw the birds, but after a very pleasant (though practically birdless) morning at Whitesbog and a stop at the Burlington County Fairgrounds, I returned from the alternate avian universe to our world and spent the next 12 hours watching the republic teeter yet survive. So, the third sentence of this of this paragraph would normally be the first. I feel sorry for the Rough-legged Hawks at the Burlington County Fairgrounds. Their lives, as well as their legs, are rough. When I was there in December I located one almost immediately, flying over the grasslands, harassed by two Northern Harriers. Yesterday, after a little searching, I found two flying, one of them being chased by an immature Bald Eagle.
The fairgrounds, one of the last expanses of grassland in the area, is a great place for raptors--including Short-eared Owls if you go there at dusk and the owls emerge before the gates close. While the Rough-legged Hawks (this is the first time I've seen two there) are the rarity, Northern Harriers abound. I counted 6. Eagles nest there, which is why, supposedly, you can't walk into the fields. The first raptor I saw as I was driving along the fence that separates the parking lot from the grasslands--a hovering American Kestrel that flew over my car and conveniently landed in a tree across from the driver's side window.
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