All across the Great Plains, hawks, gulls and vultures dipped and soared in the deep blue sky on this sunny, November day. Strong south winds, building ahead of the next cold front, triggered the aerial display and pushed summer-like weather into the region.
As expected, red-tails dominated the show but a few rough-legged hawks were encountered on the High Plains and a golden eagle soared above the Palmer Divide, in eastern Colorado. Even the northern harriers and prairie falcons, which typically fly and hunt close to the ground, could not resist a chance to bank and soar with the others. In central Kansas, just east of Russell, a huge flock of sandhill cranes circled high overhead, seemingly making little progress in the stiff, southerly head winds.
While some (if not most) of these aerialists were in the process of hunting, many seemed to be playing in the steady breeze, dipping and gliding above the wide open terrain. If only we had the ability to join them!
