I was driving through Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland this morning
and had a close encounter with a raptor.

A small dark bird (starling?) darted across the road in front of me.  Not
far behind a larger bird followed.  It was moving so fast as to be an
unidentifiable blur, but rather large (medium sized for a raptor). My
brain had picked Coopers or Broadwing by the size.  I looked left and the
small bird must have pitched upwards as the raptor tipped up on its tail,
still powering along, and gave me a good view of the back of an adult
female coopers hawk.

I never did ID the smaller bird.  Perhaps there will be some feather
blowing about a nearby yard later today that can yield some clues.


-- 

William Randolph
Keedysville, MD