Five years ago at the San Diego Bird Festival I had three target Life Birds: white-tailed kite, mountain bluebird, and ferruginous hawk.

I saw white-tailed kites on the Festival field trips.  I missed mountain bluebirds that year but saw them in Montana in 2016.  But the ferruginous hawk, pictured above, is still on my target list.

On the spur of the moment I used up my Southwest Airlines points to fly+drive to Chico, California for the Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway.  Right now I’m where those hawks spend the winter — in the “ferruginous zone.”

On Throw Back Thursday, read more about this big western hawk at The Color of Rust.

I hope to see one.

UPDATE 26 Jan 2018: Hooray! I did see one at Lassen Road, Tehama County, California.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)