This morning, 10/2/19, a friend texted a photo to me of a Harris's Hawk she had
just seen on Old Newport Highway in the Fairgarden community of east Sevier
County. She and a companion were out looking for Red-tailed Hawks in a known
location and observed the Harris's Hawk perched on a utility wire. She took a
photo with her cell phone and sent it to me.Harris's Hawk has been reported in
east Sevier County several times since 2017 but mostly from January to March. A
few low quality photos have been made, good enough to ID the hawk as Harris's
and that it did not have jesses.I contacted a local company that uses hawks for
"pest" bird abatement and they are not missing any hawks. The American Eagle
Foundation (AEF) here in Sevierville also has Harris's Hawk but I have not
contacted them. The observer of the hawk today is or was an employee of AEF and
I assumed she would have not reported to me unless she thought this was
possibly a wild hawk.A few folks will go out in the morning to look for the
hawk. If others go, please be courteous and safe. This is a busy highway with
little or no room to pull off in most places. Some of you may get an ebird
report of this bird, but not under my name. I used another account that I used
to document Common Merganser sightings from folks who sent me photos but are
not birders. But the report was made by me on behalf of the observer. If the
bird is relocated, I will submit a short report to Tn-bird, ebird, and
Facebook.Keith Watson Pittman Center TN Keith Watson Sent from my Verizon,
Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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