Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 17:41:55 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: marty cribb Subject: Irish Grove/Rumbley Point sighting MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I had an opportunity today to stop and bird for a short while at the = Irish Grove/Rumbley Point area. I had the most magnificent look at an = adult very dark phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. This bird was by far the = darkest Rough-legged Hawk I can ever recall seeing. For those familiar = with the dirt road that passes the entrrance to Irish Grove continue = along this road for approximately 1/2 mile where there is a small = hammock on the left with a few Loblolly pines. I originally saw the bird = hunting over the marsh (hovering) and suspected it was a Red-tailed = Hawk. I had good looks thru my binoculars and spotting scope. The tail = was seen very clearly both the top and undertail sides. As the bird = would fly to a new vantage point it would drop its tail and legs to stop = and then begin to hover. The feathering on the legs was very easy to see = and extended to the top of the feet. By dropping its tail I was able to = see clearly the dark black band at the terminal end of the tail which = stood out clearly from the rest of the tail. I hope someone is able to = relocate this bird and would comment if they would about the (as i = viewed it) very dark coloring. I was at the location between 12 and 1PM. = I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the folks in = Southern Md who came out Wednesday evening to see my slides and hear me = talk about my 2nd favorite spot to bird, South Texas. Thanks again = Southern Maryland Audubon Society. Marty Cribb, Smith Island, Md=20 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================