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Juv. Goshawk in Bethesda this a.m.

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Fri, 2 Dec 2005 15:46:06 -0600

After dropping my kids off at school this morning at St. Jane de Chantal School on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, as I headed north and approached the Beltway (495) ready to head east, a large accipiter flew into view, flying east to west across Old Georgetown just below the tops of the trees. My first impression was Cooper's, but as it got closer, that impression changed to Cooper's on steroids. Barrel chested (nothing at all like the skinny Cooper's (which I would not have said until I saw this bird) that's been hanging around my yard dining on the occasional cowbird or dove), with deep and deliberate wingbeats, but a typical accipiter profile. As it got closer, I looked for gray, but only saw brown - and concluded it was a juvenile Goshawk, the first I think I've ever seen inside the Beltway (albeit within a stone's throw of that highway). And then it was gone and I had to pay attention to traffic so as not to end up in an accident. 

Tom Stock
Silver Spring
altomomatic at verizon dot net