Jan. 19, 2003 Ashport, Lauderdale Co. TN At 11:45, this morning (Sunday), I saw a large bird perched in a tree line next to the Mississippi River next to Highway 19 about 1/4 mile north of Ashport. I slowed down to make sure of an ID, thinking it just another Red-tailed Hawk. A Blue Jay came flying down the tree line and suddenly the raptor took chase. This bird made some unbelievable moves as the Blue Jay made an abrupt course change and came out into the open field. Although the Blue Jay made tight turns and rolls, the large raptor never fell back in the chase. The Blue Jay with raptor closing on him made it back to an area of closely spaced saplings and disappeared over a mound of dirt. There was no mistaking, the bird was not a Red-tail or even a Red-shouldered. The spread wings and tail seen in the sharp turns pretty well eliminated anything but an accipiter but this bird was much too large for anything other than a Goshawk. The bird flew south down the tree line and came to rest just inside the edge. I was able to pull in a turn off and get my scope on the bird. From the back I could see heavy mottling on the brown back but more importantly the long banded tail. There was a prominent wide, buffy, supercilium that flared behind the eye and a buff stripe running across the wing at the greater coverts. The bird flew farther south and then went over the small levee and disappeared. I traveled south to the boat ramp and parked. I walked out from there in order to see past the house to the north and eventually relocated the bird facing me, about 200 feet away again sitting just inside the tree line. From the front I could see the heavy dark vertical streaks on a buff background unlike the neater dark streaks on a lighter background found on Cooper's Hawks. The bird was impressively large with fierce yellow eyes but noting my attention it quickly turn and went back north working through the trees. I searched for another 30 minutes but did not relocate this large immature Northern Goshawk. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================