Although the airport tower is a pretty good place to bird from, it isn't the 
best one that I've been in. Washington National had great views of the city, 
but the river was too far away to provide good views. The field there is too 
compressed and they are too agressive there with the bird cannons to get 
much actually on the field. I used to get horned larks and meadowlarks in 
migration though, but being in Virginia made it less attractive for a 
Marylander. Phoenix was a concrete wasteland, with only fly-bys to provide 
entertainment. 3 species of swifts (White-throated, Vaux's and Black) in a 
single flock was nice one day. Philadelphia was the best. The tower is on 
the south side by the marsh and the river. It wasn't uncommon to see more 
than 100 Ring-necked Pheasants at a time on some mornings. Short-eared Owls 
were winter regulars and the hawks were usually good. Winter Rough-legs were 
regular. The river provided lots of waterfowl and gulls including a Sabine's 
once.

BWI is surprisingly slow in comparison. Hawks are usually fly-bys or seen 
along the roads around the perimeter, with the exception of the nesting 
Kestrels (they have nested every-other year under the tower there since my 
return in 2002. Last year the Kestrels nested locally elsewhere & I'm 
looking forward to seeing if they return next year or if the Starlings win 
the battle again). Otherwise, the hawks are seen along the perimeter but 
rarely hunting over the expansive fields. I have expected to see at least 
one Short-ear at some point, but I've never seen a single one. I've gotten 
Great-horned and Barn, but that's all. Fly-bys are usually the way anything 
exciting happens here.

Kendra was the name of the wildlife person that Stan talked about taking him 
around the field. She has taken a job at Denver Airport and has been 
replaced by a new 'Bird One'. They have provided me with some great photos 
of some of the kills to help them identify. One of the most interesting 
series of photos was of a trainer plane called a Katana and an unfortunate 
Tundra Swan. The Katana is made of lightweight composites and has a wooden 
prop. On a winter flight 2 years ago between the Bay Bridge Airport and BWI, 
the Katana encountered a swan at about 2,000 feet. The prop clipped the 
bird, which spun into the wing and then really cart-wheeled into the tail. 
It must have been cart-wheeling at incredible speeds because the wing of the 
swan sliced into the tail stabilizer and became embedded about 8 inches into 
the aircraft. The plane flew back to BWI and landed safely with a 
decapitated, but otherwise complete, Tundra Swan hanging by its wrist from 
the tail. It was a sad example of how planes and birds don't mix and how 
dangerous the skies can be.

If I see the Goshawk again in the coming days, I'll post immediately.

Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stan Arnold" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 9:20 PM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] BWI Birding (was "Marvelous weekend in yard, AA Co.")


> Ed and all,
>
> What great news that we were not the only ones to see the Goshawk.  We saw
> the bird on Sunday afternoon, sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., and it
> was heading due west, straight toward BWI Airport.  The perimeter fence of
> BWI is 1.3 miles due west of our house, as the goshawk flies.
>
> I have found that the best place to get a view of all of BWI is from the
> Andover Overlook, on the north side of the airport.  It's a distant look,
> but a bird like a Goshawk would be scope-able from this vantage point.  It
> is located along the BWI Trail mentioned by Ed in his email.  The problem
> with this location is that you can't drive right up to it.  You have to
> either park at the Lindale Middle School, and walk along the trail for 
> about
> 1/2 mile, or you have to park next door at the Andover Equestrian Center
> parking lot, and go through two gates (through the center) and then walk
> about 1/4 mile along the trail up to the overlook.  This venue offers a 
> very
> commanding view of virtually the entire airport, except for what is
> obstructed by the buildings.
>
> A lot of folks may not realize what a birding goldmine the airport can be,
> but of course there is virtually no access to the grounds by birders. 
> When
> I took on the Relay CE block during the recent Breeding Bird Atlas, I 
> looked
> at a map of the block, and declared that this would be a cinch--the 
> airport
> took up 1/3 of the block, and the rest was developed.  I wouldn't be 
> finding
> too many breeding birds.  Then Ed put me in touch with the "bird lady" who
> was responsible for bird control at the airport, and I was subsequently
> escorted around all the wild parts of the field, confirming birds like
> Killdeer and Eastern Meadowlark, and Ed had confirmed Kestrel at the 
> control
> tower on multiple occasions, I believe.  And the Grasshopper Sparrows.  I
> wouldn't be surprised if BWI had more nesting Grasshopper Sparrows than 
> any
> other similarly sized plot of land anywhere in Maryland.  They are
> everywhere on the field during the summer, and also outside the airport at
> the overlooks.  There was even a Wild Turkey that I was able to see at BWI
> (subsequently hit by a plane), and another observer recorded a Horned Lark
> there during safe dates, and no one knows like John Hubbel how tough it is
> to find Horned Lark in Anne Arundel Co.
>
> And then there are the other scarce birds, like the White Ibis that Ed
> viewed from the control tower, and the Upland Sandpipers that are recorded
> there on occasion (but sadly not by me).  I'm just waiting for that email
> from Ed on some cold winter day, announcing a Snowy Owl somewhere on the
> grounds.  So I guess it should come as no surprise that the goshawk has
> found a stopping place there.  How fortuitous for us that its route of
> flight was over our almost-urban acre in Ferndale.
>
> Stan Arnold
> Glen Burnie
> 
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Edward Boyd" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Marvelous weekend in yard, AA Co.
>
>
>> Stan,
>>
>> It appears that your Imm. Goshawk hasn't strayed too far from your yard
>> since you spotted it over the weekend. This afternoon while getting off 
>> of
>> work at BWI at around 3:15, I found (presumably) your bird situated on a
>> light post along the entrance road to the airport adjacent to the run-up
>> block for runway 15 Right. For those that aren't familiar with the
> lay-out,
>> as you drive into the airport on the main road, the runway on your right
>> that parallels the roadway is Runway 15 Right. When the airport is taking
>> off to the east, you'll see the departures lined up here for take-off.
>> Anyway, about 1000 feet or so down from the approach end there is a
> holding
>> area that is part of one of the taxiways leading to this runway, and 
>> along
>> the edge near the fence are some light poles (British Airways knocked one
> of
>> these down a few years back when some lines were incorrectly marked for
> the
>> pilots to follow to get situated in the holding area). I digress again. 
>> As
> I
>> merged onto the exit road that is opposite this, I observed a large hawk
>> being bombarded by a crow while trying to sit atop the fixture. There is
>> sometimes a Red-tail that hangs out in this area and at first that's what
> I
>> thought it was going to be. Then I observed that the bird was much larger
>> than the crow, with dark streaking from head to the belly with dark
> banding
>> on the underside of the long tail.
>>
>> Interestingly, when I was at work this morning, the supervisor on duty
> over
>> the weekend told me about this "big hawk" that soared in and landed on 
>> the
>> rail of the catwalk of the tower yesterday. The bird then glided down and
>> landed on top of the roof of terminal "C" for a time. (terminal C holds
> the
>> gates for Delta, American and Northwest). His description was right on 
>> for
>> this bird, so it may be holding in the area if it doesn't get creamed by
> an
>> aircraft while it hunts the fields and forests here. I'll follow-up if
> more
>> observations are made in the next week and beyond.
>>
>> Ed Boyd
>> Westminster, MD
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Stan Arnold" <>
>>
>>
>> > Hi Folks,
>> >
>> > Fairly late in the afternoon, Elaine and I took a walk to the end of 
>> > the
>> > driveway, impressed by the thousand or so grackles feeding in various
>> > yards
>> > across the main thoroughfare.  When we returned to the yard, I noticed 
>> > a
>> > large hawk flying to the east.  It was big and I thought it was our
>> > Red-tail, but it looked rather dark; I was looking at it edge-on, and
>> > really
>> > couldn't see any detail.  It didn't fly like the Red-tail, either:  no
>> > bank,
>> > cruise, circle, hover, circle, bank, cruise... It flew in a rather
> direct
>> > line, turning little and allowing little more than a profile view.
>> > Fortuitously, however, it did make a turn, and came right toward us.
> The
>> > big bird flew right over our yard, revealing heavy streaking from 
>> > throat
>> > to
>> > feet, pale undertail coverts, and delicate banding on the tail--a
> juvenile
>> > NORTHERN GOSHAWK, yard bird #117, and yet another county bird.
>>
>> > Stan Arnold
>> > Glen Burnie
>> > 
>> >
>>
>>
>