FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Keebler raptor update

[Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx]

THU 16 DEC 2004
Washington Co., TN
D. Holt

     Around noon today I saw a white bird amongst a loose kettle of mixed 
birds over the Keebler Rd. area, approximately.  I was over a mile away, to the 
south I think.  I set up a 20X scope, and was able to see that it was a buteo.  
It reached the top of the kettle and glided southwest, then dived steeply and 
landed in a tree near Snapps Bridge, maybe a half mile away from me.  I got a 
60X scope on it and saw that it was sitting a couple of feet away from a 
normal plumaged Red-tailed Hawk.  They sat together without incident for 
several 
minutes, then the white one flew a little upriver, seeming to land in a densely 
branched tree where I could not see it.  I drove down to Snapps Bridge and 
walked around looking for it along the river, but without luck.
     The bird's plumage, as far as I could tell, seemed to be totally pure, 
bright white from all angles, though distance would have obscured any subtle 
marks or colorings.  I could not determine eye, beak or leg color.  Don Miller 
tells me there has been a mostly white Red-tailed Hawk with a normal red tail 
known in the Snapps Bridge area for a few years now.  I think this was a 
different individual.
     After leaving Snapps Bridge, I went to Keebler Rd. and found a Peregrine 
Falcon again, this time on the east side of Keebler Rd., in a lone tree on 
the skyline.  I watched for a quarter-hour or so before it flew down and 
disappeared behind the knoll.  While there, I also saw an adult male Northern 
Harrier 
harrass a passing Red-tailed Hawk.

Don Holt
Johnson City, TN
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