VA Birders,
Because of the bitter cold weather on Friday morning, only Joanna Taylor
and I (the co-leaders) showed up for the NVBC walk at Fort Smith Park in
Arlington that day. About 11:45 am, after Joanna left and just as I was about
to
leave, I spotted an all-dark bird flying toward the parking lot from the east.
At first I thought it would be a crow, but as it got closer, it was apparent
that it was a hawk, more specifically a buteo. At first I thought the light
made it seem all dark, but then I realized that I had seen a couple of
Red-tails in the same area a short time earlier, which looked like our usual
Eastern
Red-tails, so I believe this bird really was an all-dark buteo. Unfortunately,
it flew by and kept on going, and I really didn't get a very good look at it,
but one thing I did see was that it stopped in mid-air and hovered briefly
before moving on. Had I been in Highland Co., I would have called it a
Rough-legged Hawk, but I'm not aware of any Rough-legs being reported in the DC
Metro
area this winter, and I've never seen a Rough-leg in Arlington before. I know
that Red-tails also come in a dark morph, and they also hover a little, but I
think it would be at least as rare to see one here as to see a Rough-leg. Do
any of you hawk experts have any idea about what this bird might have been?
Good birding,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.