FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Puzzler at Henricus

["Robert C. Perkins" <rperkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     My wife and I stopped at Henricus this morning on our way home 
to North Carolina. We met a birder who reported seeing an accipiter 
that she had been unable to identify as a Cooper's or sharp-shinned.
     We saw an immature bald eagle flying over and the usual ducks 
including an American wigeon and a pair of wood ducks. No American 
bittern.
      On our way out my wife spotted the accipiter, so we stopped and 
looked. After it flew, we relocated it and looked some more, getting 
very good looks: adult; crown and back the same very dark gray; long, 
square tail with a visible white terminal fringe (all tail feathers 
the same length); head and beak not proportionately large; total size 
large for a sharpie. Best approximation was a female sharpie.
      Sharp-shinneds are fairly frequent during the winter here in 
the Fayetteville area, so I have plenty of experience with them. 
However, the one at Henricus this morning was my first Virginia 
sighting.
Bob
--
Bob Perkins
Historian and general outdoorsman
Fayetteville, North Carolina
rperkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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