Date: 1/10/26 5:55 pm From: Mike Carozza via groups.io <mike.carozza...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Zone-tailed Hawk continues; Laguna de Santa Rosa in Sebastopol
Hi Birders
After Beatrice's report I went directly to Laguna de Santa Rosa in
Sebastopol today at 1ish.
There were a lot of raptors in the sky, many to the northwest. After 45
min, the ZONE-TAILED HAWK first reported by Eric Feuss appeared from NW
direction at 1:40~, soaring for 10~ minutes then heading back NW (Beatrice
told me it had gone that direction earlier).
My description + more context after I reviewed a lot of photos of the other
contender, the hybrid Blackhawk/Red-Shoulder from Santa Rosa creek trail:
Our bird today was a slate black hawk soaring with TVs. Wobbly. Slight
dihedral. Slender winged (not broad/rounded trailing edge like hybrid red
shoulder pics). Noticeably smaller than nearby TVs. Yellow cere. No
translucent windows or white “commas” on “wrist”. Banded tail. Did not show
long legs.
Additional context: I've never seen the hybrid with my own eyes. With that
said, we had the sun at our backs and saw no red/brown on this bird, not
much contrast at all from a distance, except for the yellow cere and tail
bands, which there appeared to be at least 2.
One good possible area for it other than the Laguna would be Occidental
Road at High School Road. That's where it was headed.
