THE BIRDS OF EL PASO COUNTY, 

 COLORADO 



Cathartes aura septentrionalis. Turkey Vulture. Turkey 



Buzzard. 



Summer resident; not common. Arrives early in April 

 and departs late in October. 



Turkey Buzzards are not as numerous in Colorado as 40 

 years ago, but it is no uncommon sight to see one soaring aloft 

 near Colorado Springs in early spring and summer. They are 

 not known to breed within the County, but there is a roost just 

 beyond our lines at the Glendale crossing of Beaver Creek 

 from whence our soaring birds probably come. This Glendale 

 roost is very old ; Aiken's notes state that he found 20 birds 

 there in -May, 1872. A specimen in the Aiken Collection was 

 taken near Colorado Springs, April 12, 1911. 



Elanoides forficatus. Swallow-tailed Kite. 



Rare. The only known examples taken in the region were 

 captured in August. In that month in 1877 two were brought 

 in the flesh to Aiken, one of which had been shot at Colorado 

 Springs, and the other at Manitou Park, Teller County. 



Ictinia mississippiensis. Mississippi Kite. 



Rare ; the only record is one seen by Aiken, in Deadman's 

 Canon, southwest of Colorado Springs, during the summer of 

 1873. 



Circus hudsonius. Marsh Hawk. 



Summer resident; common. A few remain through the 

 winter. Arrives as early as the latter part of February, and 

 leaves in October. Rockwell and Wetmore, September' 6, 1909 

 saw at Palmer Lake Marsh Hawks all day long, migrating, 

 flying toward the southeast, sometimes singly, sometimes two 

 or three together. Found on the plains and the more open 

 spaces in the mountains. One was seen hunting on some 

 vacant lots in the northerly part of Colorado Springs, Septein- 



