[va-bird] Re: hawks, hawks, hawks

quite drunk on hawk sightings but thirsty for more.
this is lovely imagery, and imagery that many on this list serve understand 
viscerally.  Montressor Rd. is a really fabulous place for this.  makes me 
wonder what other wonders Jon Little may produce for us.   jck 



James Creamer wrote:

>Jim and I birded both branches of 661 in Loudon county yesterday, and we were 
>in hawk heaven!  Just after turning onto Montressor ( 661 west of US15 ), we 
>spotted a perched buteo in a tree on the left side of the road.  Before Jim 
>could get the scope on it, I saw two hunting hawks in the field on the right.  
>One went down, and we tried to zero in on it but were distracted by another 
>perched buteo.  This turned out to be our first-ever sighting of a 
>rough-legged hawk!!  We were so excited that we barely managed to scope out 
>the hunters, a pair of northern harriers.  
>Meanwhile, back on the left side of the road, the perched buteo flew and lit 
>again in a closer tree.  We scoped him: a red-tailed.  
>
>We returned to the car after an extended watch and had only driven a few feet 
>when we spotted a large buteo sitting on a fence post not more than fifty feet 
>from the road.  Jim whipped the car into a pull-off, and we watched the 
>immature red-tailed for a good two minutes before he flew.
>
>By this time we were quite drunk on hawk sightings but thirsty for more.  We 
>continued our drive  and saw two more rough legged, several red-taileds and 
>numerous harriers.  In one meadow, we saw a family of three harriers on the 
>ground with a kill.  The juvenile stayed on the ground for a few minutes while 
>we watched.  Beautiful!
>
>Go if you can.  It's quite an experience.
>
>Jim and Beth Creamer
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>


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