Sky Watch

I got to go to the much loved strip pits today...just had to get out there for a little bit. I had noticed that we weren't seeing many geese here at home and I had told Roger I think they have left and I think from what we seen they headed north. I think this is as far south as they come...lots of cornfields and quite a few strip pits...today we seen very few geese and all winter there have been so many. Too many to even begin to count. Today, I didn't see but a couple in flight and not many more on the water.
However, after we had been there we started seeing the hawks...does anyone know for sure what the one above is? I have looked and looked at my books and cannot really decide...he doesn't match anything exactly. Yet from the sound of both books, there are always variations within a species. I don't think he is one of the Northern Harriers...he just was not flying as they normally do. Most times when I see them they do not have their tail fanned out as this one does and if this is one he is a variation.
The sky was interesting...maybe not as pretty as other times but still beautiful.
Depending on the direction you looked, you could get a totally different look. these two were taken within minutes of each other but just looking different directions.
As was this one...just a minute earlier the hill was bathed in sunlight...but a cloud shaded the hill about the time I decided to take a picture. I sat there a few minutes because I thought the cloud blocking the sun was going to pass but it didn't. You can tell by the brilliant blue sky though that it was still there.
And then there was this fellow...isn't he handsome? I think he is one of the Northern Harriers..we seen so many of them today. On one of the pictures of it, I think I can see the white patch on its rump.
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