This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_003B_01BF1804.00F2A120 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I went to Monument Knob (Washington Mon St Pk) for the first time this = season today (10/16/99). After the fog lifted about 12:30 there was a = pretty steady stream of hawks, almost all Sharp-shins, with a few = Harriers and Red-tails. The highlight, of course, was a Golden Eagle = about 1:30. It was at medium distance and easily identifiable by its = broad white band at the base of the tail and its golden head. It did not = have obvious white wing patches. It's the first one I've seen there in = maybe about ten visits over the years at the appropriate season. The = main counter there said it was the first of this season. Winds were = southeasterly 5-10+ mph. Most of the hawks flew by the east side of the = tower, but the Golden was on the west side. Earlier today I had an unusually good look at a Blue-headed Vireo. I = remember that Jim Stasz was asking us to try to identify them by = sub-species as Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius solitarius) vs. = Mountain Vireo (Vireo solitarius alticola). For what it's worth, it was = clearly the Mountain sub-species. The green on the back was very dark = and grayish, and the yellow was limited to the lower flanks. It's rare = to get enough of a look at one of these guys to see the difference. If I = had a lesser look, I would have had the impression that the whole back = was just-plain gray. (The wing-bars were yellow, so don't go rushing for = a Plumbeous Vireo.) This was at Powell's Run Rd in W Baltimore Co just = north of Marriotsville Rd. I believe the few that I saw last spring locally appeared to be the = greener backed regular B-h Vireo. ------=_NextPart_000_003B_01BF1804.00F2A120 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">