![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiFyVJNWtQEDCjsAMLUKnzWb0BldX_zPwDI-VJ6e_-NGSt6BsofJK03XV_H06hPa1TieyDzWxSnWXMkslHevd2kYewvCgOnsWvvonJuFk8safAKx7owGrQ__q5ord_xxzvXn012V88B8JY/s400/swftom2.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59F1W_Alx-gM-5hdQWk2ub_ckatOb86-u0zabV8mRmZ5tQ16XDsdMHGnjc0s3awbYlH1hSkvccDtzZSujt1UXf1pnXDLHYlyoCbr-KZIDzurYHAi8Xu5abSrCefhAGPr0DJbqocwn2w9F/s400/IMG_0518+copy.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY6FQ8SsaRai2k2N72IaYhoyHJxf8yOjrEjNKxhvb7Dj_Gy1SFVKOXSWAbRPVRdAJh2U4VSckSLVgesuWzpb3thOiJpgi4AVgsQi8y-oO_TQwu4Xw6CKBE5FXt5GsyJv28xq1xkMpNdKoW/s400/IMG_0533+copy.jpg)
The sky was interesting...maybe not as pretty as other times but still beautiful.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67VYk1h9JT1ExjE8f-mpzFnYesqIwXyEPthflEAifvis3WbY65ZUU2sumNXDQg7ff-MJo_3fYKbljNNr6PICtzv_5uGp9hxpi-6Q7aK9nthdaR1j29pQ9R7SW0pfgNguh1OON7OaCAX1-/s400/IMG_0531+copy.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDuqrDB64sDwUajZRFNPwvgB_YqSGfKvs5Qzb4aXTjnTLF0VMgv4osffuUBJHWP57OEylAyjN930OexDm3e4WwIaw9esLxSd7P3J4Y5SsWZiEr_WN1uLgDl_9sL6lqP5WzLnnoQ_StItK2/s400/IMG_0529+copy.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-favul_jkgMqxEoN8CCsFrw3TyIXq54iWqzJH0uhLDvzakDVgIbLcU7KsDQP_6JdglT5dPkDlXZij1g9Q70sr9GZ0JX1ntOaPb69eMRvCXxnMOQ-dCjEh8h20x893jwNm0vECvbqFaJN/s400/IMG_0525+copy.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK85fyIPbbMkgl2w6y24yfS2NlaXBH5nQJBRQj1ovWyXeHPqmFefhmUH8lA84NX3rdsCPvhW6AOQmjB5Jmfl7wWRfbxqe7Hfl7AEYJEGnz2nkSxn_EWdbHqKoBLSCUnMwup59UtxtJNzMi/s400/IMG_0537+copy.jpg)
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