I saw these two birds tonite on the eastern plains of Colorado. My guess on the first is a prairie falcon and can't figure anything on the second. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Prairie Falcon looks like a good ID on the first (though I've never seen one) and the second is a species of "Goatsucker" or "Nightjar". A rather remarkable photo actually as they are insanely hard to find and are almost always heard and not seen (they are nocturnal). Perhaps it thought it blended into the perch.
For a more specific ID, I'd go with the Common Nighthawk based on the more extensive collar and range of this bird. The only other Nightjar to be expected in Colorado is the Common Poorwill which is a lot smaller and has a shorter straighter collar.
Mia's Red-tailed hawk ID is likely accurate - when I first saw it I thought "that looks a lot like a red-tailed" but got influenced by the Prairie Falcon mention.
Discussion
4 repliesPrairie Falcon looks like a good ID on the first (though I've never seen one) and the second is a species of "Goatsucker" or "Nightjar". A rather remarkable photo actually as they are insanely hard to find and are almost always heard and not seen (they are nocturnal). Perhaps it thought it blended into the perch.
For a more specific ID, I'd go with the Common Nighthawk based on the more extensive collar and range of this bird. The only other Nightjar to be expected in Colorado is the Common Poorwill which is a lot smaller and has a shorter straighter collar.
- Luke
The top bird appears to be a light morph of the Red-tailed Hawk, perhaps a Krider's subspecies.
The second bird is a Nighthawk, probably the Common Nighthawk.