[TN-Bird] Rough-legged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, etc. (Greene Co., TN)

February 19, 2005
[posted February 20]

Kinser Park (KP) (at Davy Crockett Lake);
Wal-Mart Distribution Center (WMDC) and vicinity (western Greene County)

A crow was the best bird of the day.  If it hadn't come along when it
did, I probably would not have been able to identify the Rough-legged
Hawk.

At about 2:55 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, February 19, I was driving
east on Jim Kirk Road when I noticed a large, dark bird flying in from
the fields on the left a considerable distance ahead.  (These are the
fields that are visible across the railroad track from Wal-Mart
Distribution Center.)  I stopped on the shoulder of the road to get a
better look and realized immediately that my first
impression--vulture--had been mistaken.  The bird was obviously a Buteo
hawk, and its body was obviously all dark or nearly so.  At this point,
a crow began harassing the hawk, causing it to take evasive action by
swerving up and down and banking to change directions.

Thanks to this development, I got a solid enough look at the bird to
note its black (rather than chocolate brown) body, black wing linings,
long wings (longer than those of a Red-tailed Hawk), brilliant white
undersides to the primary feathers, and whitish area on the basal
portion of the tail.  Thus, it fit the description of an adult male
dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk.

After about a half minute, the hawk disappeared low in an area where the
fields are broken by fencerows lined with Eastern Redcedar, American
Sycamore, various other trees, and shrubby growth.  There are also
drainage ditches and small creeks or seeps in this area.

This area appears to be an excellent spot for Rough-legged Hawks if they
happen to be around.  It offers vast open pastures broken by a few trees
and fences, and the whole area is adjacent to the cattail marshes at
Wal-Mart Distribution Center.  In other words, it is about as similar to
tundra habitat as a Rough-legged Hawk can find in northeast Tennessee.

I am aware of a few reports of Rough-legged Hawks in Greene County in
the last ten years or so, but I believe that they were of light-morph
birds.  I also recall a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk being reported in
Limestone in Washington County last year (by Don Holt, I think) and at
least one light-morph bird in Sullivan County in the late 90's.  I would
appreciate any info that anyone might have on Rough-legs in northeast
Tennessee in the last few years.

I also found a few other noteworthy birds on the 19th, as follows:

American Black Duck (3--2 WMDC, 1 Sapp Road);
Northern Shoveler (WMDC);
Red-shouldered Hawk (KP);
Ring-billed Gull (75+ Fish Hatchery Road (Highway 340));
Eurasian Collared-Dove (2 adjacent to West Greene High School);
Pine Warbler (2 KP);
Chipping Sparrow (12 KP);
Rusty Blackbird (50+ Green Road, many of which were singing).

Don Miller
Greeneville, TN





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