Bill Haley kicked off this seasons Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch early on Sept. 5,
2015. Below is a copy paste he sent me on a mystery hawk he saw briefly. Bill
also saw our first of the season Broad-winged Hawk on that day.
•*Unidentified Buteo “mystery hawk”: Seen well over valley at fairly high
altitude, no color or plumage field marks discernible. When first seen, it was
already even with the lookout and headed south, so it was unfortunately going
away from me. It appeared to be buteo-sized, and the wings looked like buteo
wings but the tail appeared longish for a BW, RT or RS. Its wings were held in
a very distinct dihedral, and it occasionally flapped its wings. I watched it
for 2-3 minutes as it slowly glided on south, soaring and circling as it went.
I’ll start with a list of species I’m pretty sure it was NOT: Bald Eagle,
Golden Eagle, Osprey, (too small for the first three, wings and body shape not
right), Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk (dihedral too strong, tail not
right), no accipiter (too big and bulky), no falcon (wings not pointed), no TV
or BV. Following is my process of elimination:
•1). Northern Harrier: My first thought was Northern Harrier, based on the
dihedral and wing flaps, however I’m pretty good at ID’ing a N. Harrier from a
good distance. The wings were not long enough and the tail was too short. I
ruled out N. Harrier.
•2). Mississippi Kite: The flight characteristics somewhat reminded me of a
Mississippi Kite, but the build was wrong – the wings were broader - not
slender enough, and it looked too bulky for a kite. I’ve seen a good number of
Mississippi Kites in flight in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Missouri, so I
feel certain it wasn’t a kite.
•3).Red-shouldered Hawk: Usually when we see a buteo that flaps its wings as it
soars, it turns out to be a Red-shouldered Hawk. However, I’ve never seen a RS
hold its wings in such a dihedral and the tail (when compared with the wings)
also looked longer and more slim than a RS tail. I realize this is probably the
most plausible choice, but I just didn’t get the feeling it was a
Red-shouldered.
So what could it have been?
•4). Swainson’s Hawk: Hmmm. It is an intriguing possibility and I really wish I
could have seen the bird closer. Swainson’s Hawks hold their wings in a
dihedral, are just a bit slighter-built and smaller than a RT and they migrate
in September. Wings, body and tail shapes match up fairly well with my bird.
Unfortunately, I have not seen enough Swainson’s Hawks flying to know if the
wing-flapping is something they might do. That might completely rule them out.
Granted they are usually a mid-western species and not commonly found this far
east, but they do occur in the fall at Hawk Mountain, PA and even Cape May, NJ
and a few overwinter in Florida. I saw one on Soddy Mountain during spring
migration a number of years ago, but it was much closer and flying with a
Red-tail for a size comparison. I could see field marks such as the darker
flight feathers, longer-appearing tail and slighter build than the Red-tail.
While watching this bird on Saturday, it sure made me wonder if it could
possibly be a Swainson’s Hawk. However, not seeing it more closely, and due to
my lack of observations of this species, I’m not prepared to make that call and
it will simply go down as an unidentified buteo.
Oh well, if hawk identification was too easy then everyone could do it. Welcome
to Soddy Mountain hawkwatch 2015!
Reporting: Bill Haley
Jimmy & Cynthia Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton Co., Tn.
For directions and other readings, check out Cynthia's blogspot. She is also
working on a facebook page!
http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com
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