Date: 10/22/25 5:46 pm From: Pete Sole <pete...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Bald Eagle (photos) and other musings
Hi birders,
On a bit of a whim, went up birding to Rancho del Oso near the Santa
Cruz / San Mateo county line. One fun surprising find for me, was a BALD
EAGLE hanging out on some snags overlooking the ocean. In the 20 or so
years that I've been birding Waddell Beach and Rancho del Oso, roughly
quarterly if not more often, today was the first time that I've seen a
BALD EAGLE. A few eagle photos from today, best enjoyed on a big screen:
As I was driving home, but before I got back to Santa Cruz city limits,
I saw another 6 species of raptors including:
* 1 Peregrine Falcon flying along HW1 parallel to the road. Kind of
fun to drive along with a Peregrine for an escort.
* 2 or 3 Red-tailed Hawks
* 1 juvi Red-shouldered Hawk
* 1 Northern Harrier
* 2 or 3 American Kestrels
* 1 Turkey Vulture
So, from Rancho del Oso to the western edge of Santa Cruz City, there
were at least 7 species of diurnal raptors in the area.
If we consider that there are Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, small
numbers of White-tailed Kites, Merlins, and Golden Eagles about, we
should have close to a dozen raptor species in county in winter. If we
are lucky, we could even pick up a Ferruginous Hawk and possibly a
Prairie Falcon later in the season.
