Jeff the hawkcounter

Here is a picture of California native Jeff Birek, the CVWO hawkcounter for the fall and a beautiful adult male Northern Harrier. Jeff spends the whole day staring at the sky, counting migrating raptors from the hawk platform here inside Kiptopeke State Park. Some days its pretty easy, when their are clouds and/or the hawk flight is low, but then there are days when the sky is endless and the hawks are dots, even in a pair of binoculars. But Jeff is up to it. He is excellent at identifying raptors even if they are but just five mile away! Also, Jeff is great at doing hawk demonstrations (as he is here) informing visitors of hawk identifications and the need for conservation. And for those of you that are interested, yes, he has seen a few Bald Eagles this fall. ;-)