pillwixler's Identifications

This is a digital illustration, made by me, which is allowed on iNaturalist: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/are-drawings-evidence/8595

Keep in mind this was a few months ago, so I only have a few notes to work off of, but this is a very distinctive species so I don’t think it’s possible I’ve confused it for something else.

I was biking in the morning. As I was crossing the street, a large bird soared over me (~4 feet above me?) and behind me into a sort of large grassy area meant for water drainage that had a lot of plants. Goldenrods, willows, other trees (small), teasel, tall grasses, and primroses are some of the plants I can name from the top of my head. After crossing the street, I turned back and crossed again in an attempt to find the bird, but I couldn’t find it at all.

Original notes from June 15th:

“Medium-sized bird, maybe the size of a small mallard. Flew like a mourning dove (which I thought it was at first: there were a lot of mourning doves today). Reddish-orange body, and at least two very long tail feathers trailing behind it, perhaps intertwined. White stripe between the body and an iridescent blue head. Hints of red on the head”