Two accipiters came zooming in together over the marsh early on this morning. I don't think they were a pair but rather one appeared to be chasing the other. The smaller one, the chasee, veered off. It was an adult bird with horizontal red stripes on its breast; I think it was an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk. The other, the bigger of the two and the chaser, kept going and landed in a tree at the head of the marsh. It hung out in the area for a while, occasionally taking ofter potential prey, and generally showing the features of a juvenile Cooper's Hawk (somewhat flatish head, lots of white spots on the brown back, longish rounded tail, puffy white undertail coverts). The same or another Cooper's Hawk was crossing the creek from west to east a bit later in the morning. I'm beginning to wonder if these hawks are simply passing through or whether they've set up shop in the vicinity.
Hermit Thrushes are definitely on the move; there were several around this morning eating bittersweet and other berries. Both kinglets were in evidence (with Golden-crowned the more common) and there were White-throated Sparrows everywhere.
Eric Salzman
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment