[TN-Bird] Knox County surprise!

Tn-birders,
Dollyann and I were driving home tonight from a visit with some friends in 
Union County, just east of Knox County). We had just come west on Emery Rd. in 
the Halls community and then turned north on Norris freeway (Knox County, 
highway 441). We has also just driven through yet another severe thunderstorm, 
so everything was drenched. As we passed Whitworth Dr., Dollyann saw an unusual 
bird sitting on top of a house and yelled for me to stop because she thought it 
looked "different". We stopped, turned around, and went back to Whitworth Dr. 
(about 3/4 mile north of Emery Road intersection with highway 441) and turned 
in. There we watched this bird for about 10 minutes with 8x42 binoculars. We 
noticed the medium gray back, stocky size, smallish beak, blackish area through 
and around the eye area, and yellow legs. The breast was also very pale 
gray/whitish. The bird was completely drenched, but I thought I noticed part of 
a white eyebrow also. The tail had a distinct white terminal band, bordered 
above by a darkish band (maybe 3/4 inch), then a pale gray area before another 
darkish band. We had Sibley's guide with us so the ID process began. Adult 
Cooper's and Sharpies have rufousy breasts, this bird was pale. Red-tail, 
Broad-winged, and Red-shouldered hawks all didn't fit the gizz and color 
(especially on the wings). Osprey was out of the question and it was not an 
eagle or falcon. Very much to our surprise, that left only a Northern 
Goshawk!!! We double checked again and I noticed some brownish coloring on the 
primary feathers. 

About this time the bird flew off the house away from us and we never relocated 
it. This all happened about 6:20 p.m. When we got home, we consulted some other 
bird books we have and found a perfect match in "Raptors of the World", by 
James Ferguson-Lees. The bird matched figure 153c (adult male) on plate 39, 
page 156. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!. Great spot, 
Dollyann!

We hope somebody can relocate this bird, but we suspect it's a migrant moving 
through. Good luck.

Great birding to all.
Ron Hoff and Dollyann Myers
Clinton, Tn.

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