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Turkey Vulture: Medium vulture, mostly black with red, featherless head and upper neck. Wings are held in a shallow V in flight. One of the few birds of prey that is able to use its sense of smell to find food. They are attracted to the smell of mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay.
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Golden Eagle: Large raptor with dark brown body and golden-brown feathers on back of head and nape. Eyes and bill are dark. Cere is yellow. Legs are completely feathered. Feet are yellow. Alternates deep slow wing beats with glides, soars on thermals. Has been clocked in a steep glide at 120 mph.
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Red-shouldered Hawk: Large hawk with brown upperparts and head. Underparts are white with rust-red barring. The wings are finely barred above with red-brown shoulders and pale below with red-brown wash and dark tips. Tail is dark with thick white bands.
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Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. The underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. The tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Legs and feet are yellow. Soars on thermals and updrafts.
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Rough-legged Hawk: Large hawk with brown upperparts, paler, streaked head, brown-spotted white breast, and dark breast band. The legs are fully feathered. Wings are mostly pale below and dark-edged. Upper half of tail is white, lower half is finely banded. Uncommon dark phase is brown-black overall.
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American Kestrel: Smallest North American hawk, has two distinct black facial stripes, rust-brown tail and back, slate-blue wings, black-spotted underparts. Eats bats, rodents, insects, frogs, small reptiles, and birds. Alternates several rapid wing beats with glides, also hovers. Soars on thermals.
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Merlin: Small falcon with blue-gray upperparts, white to pale brown underparts with dark streaks. Throat, eye-ring, line above eye are white. Dark gray bill, cere is yellow. Tail is brown or black barred with white tips. Pacific race is dark gray. Prairie race is light gray. Taiga race is a mixture.
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Prairie Falcon: Medium falcon with brown upperparts, dark-spotted pale underparts, dark brown moustache stripe. Dark underwing-bars visible in flight. Feeds on small birds and mammals, and large insects. Swift flight with rapid wing beats. Sometimes alternates several rapid wing beats with a glide.
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Peregrine Falcon: Medium robust falcon with blue-gray upperparts, plain breast, heavily barred sides, belly, and leggings. Head has a black hood and sideburns. Yellow fleshy eye ring. Yellow legs and feet. Feeds primarily on birds which it takes in midair after a steep, swift dive from above them.
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Monk Parakeet: Medium parakeet, green overall, gray forehead, cheeks, lores, throat. Breast is gray, variably barred by dark edges on feathers. Pale pink bill. Belly; lower back, and rump are yellow-green. Wings are dull green with blue flight feathers. Tail is green above with central blue shafts.
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Barred Owl: Medium, large-headed owl with large, brown eyes, concentric rings around pale face, no ear tufts. Upperparts are brown with white markings. Underparts are white with dark bars on breast and dark streaks on belly. Heavily streaked, spotted, and variegated brown, white, and buff overall.
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Northern Shrike: Medium shrike with gray upperparts,pale gray underparts. Mask is black with white border, bill is heavy and slightly hooked. Wings are black with white patches. Tail is long, black, and white-edged. Legs and feet are black. Flight is swift and undulating on shallow rapid wing beats.
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