Thursday, September 20, 2007

Pawnee National Grasslands

Carol Miller writes...

While in Colorado for the FSU-CU game last weekend, we went northeast of Denver to the Grasslands. It was amazing to see all that flat land right next to the mountains! As we drove around, we saw flocks of Horned Larks and Vesper Sparrows flying around the fields and perched on the fences. We also saw Northern Harrier, Swainson's Hawk, American Kestrel, and Red-tailed Hawks flying overhead, and a fox running across the fields.


Horned Lark


Vesper Sparrow


Vesper Sparrows are a fairly common winter visitor to the Florida Panhandle, the J R Alford Greenway on the east side of Tallahassee can be an excellent site to find them between November and March.
Horned Larks are very rare visitors to Florida; there were 3-4 located in Jackson County last winter, which isn't too far from Tallahassee. In winter Horned Larks prefer agricultural fields especially ones that have recently been ploughed.

Andy





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