Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:59:40 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Beth Kantrowitz Subject: Raptor redux In-Reply-To: <200403150504.i2F54IJw012045@mail4.us.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Fred Shaffer already posted about the Pax Bird Club/PG Audubon field trip Saturday morning, but the straight bird list didn't express how raptor-riffic the day was. Not only was there an adult bald eagle sitting on a nest at Mount Calvert, but there was a second adult soaring overhead and a juvenile soaring even higher. Before we walked the power line right-of-way where we found the eagle nest, there was a harrier hunting the field next to where we parked, and when we returned from our walk there were two beautiful male kestrels hunting from posts in the same field. Add to these a few flyover red-tailed hawks and huge numbers of vultures riding the thermals, about a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio of TVs to BVs. Enough raptors for one day, or one weekend, right? Apparently not :) I took Metro rail and bus home from the field trip and got off the bus around 3:30 a few blocks from my Hyattsville apartment. In a clear blue sky I saw a big big bird, so I whipped out my binocs, and discovered an almost fully mature bald eagle soaring high overhead. There was still a little brown mottling in head and tail, not a clean border between white and dark brown, but almost. Then yesterday, Sunday, I was walking across the University of Maryland campus in College Park after doing some tutoring, and heard a strange sound. There are frequently fish crows on that part of campus (the "mall"), but this wasn't a fish crow, nd I wasn't even sure it was a bird. Short single syllables like a crow or jay, but higher-pitched, quieter, and sort of hoarse; kitten-like but definitely not a catbird, not the right tone and coming from above, not ground level; almost the tone of a scolding gray squirrel but not the long speeches squirrels like to give. Campus was pretty deserted with the basketball game in progress, so I followed the repeated call to one of the big willow oaks that line the mall, and on a big horizontal branch sat a bird that could only be a buteo. It seemed small, and the call was babyish, and the wind made the feathers seem all fledgling-fluffy, but there couldn't be a fledgling this time of year, could there? The bird stopped calling when I arrived but sat placidly as I completely circled the tree and walked right beneath its perch. The breast and belly were a very light buffy color with scattered brown spots, not in a distinct belly-band typical of red-tails. The head was also buffy with what looked like big dark spots on each cheek. Around back the bird was darker, sort of mottled brown and gray, no distinct tail pattern, and maybe a lighter V-shape on the scapulars like red-tails. Needless to say, I had neither binoculars or a field guide with me, but from the overall shape and posture and a great silhouette view of the sharp hooked bill, I am almost certain it was either a juvenile red-tailed hawk or a juvenile red-shouldered. As soon as I walked away (had to catch a bus) the bird started calling again. Even the big Sibley book's images of the various red-tail morphs didn't solve the mystery to my satisfaction. -Beth Kantrowitz, Hyattsville ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================