[tn-bird] Very Odd Coincidence?
- From: mgreene@xxxxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 08:34:08 -0600
Well as Jeff Wilson mentioned, we did have a very white, small raptor
sitting in the tree line back to the east while we were at the observat=
ion
tower at Black Bayou Refuge in Lake County on Saturday afternoon. It w=
as
around 6 pm when we noticed the bird and when we tried to move down the=
road for a closer look the bird left. The bird actually left between t=
he
time that I looked at the bird through my binoculars after we had moved=
a
100 yards closer and the time that we set up our scopes. In that few
seconds the bird disappeared so we never saw it in flight.
I was going over and over in my mind Saturday night about the bird and=
what it could have been.=A0 I went through a list of "possible" specie=
s
assuming just for the sake of assuming that the bird was not an albino=
or
leucistic individual.=A0 Here's what I did with my possible list:
The bird appeared too be pretty small, probably about crow-sized which=
would immediately eliminate light raptors like Gyrfalcon and Ferrugino=
us
Hawk just on size alone.=A0 I do remember some Mallards flying across =
in
front of this bird and it just didn't appear to be Red-tailed size so =
I
believe we can probably rule out an abberant Red-tailed Hawk as well.
Also Jeff & I both commented while looking at it that the bird appeared=
small.=A0 The bird was obviously a diurnal-type raptor so we can also =
rule
out the light owls - Snowy and Barn.=A0 The bird did have an "owl-like=
" look
to the head although the head was obviously too narrow for an owl.=A0 =
What
species have an "owl-like" appearance?=A0 Northern Harrier of course
immediately comes to mind but this bird was way too white for even a v=
ery
light male harrier which would show a gray look to the head and some
darker feathering on the upper breast.=A0 The next candidates would be=
the
kites of which we can eliminate Mississippi right off the bat as it is=
gray and not white, especially on the breast.=A0 Swallow-tailed Kite i=
s
quite a bit larger and has that long forked black tail.=A0 It's also l=
ess
"owl-like" in appearance.=A0 That leaves White-tailed Kite.=A0 It's ab=
out the
right size, is somewhat "owl-like" in appearance, and is completely wh=
ite
on the front side (and we never saw the back of the bird).=A0 I could =
not
rule out this species no matter what scenario I came up with.
Now here's the really interesting part.=A0 Last night I received a cal=
l from
a friend of mine I used to work with and he told me that his wife and =
he
were at Reelfoot yesterday (Sunday) and that they had a really interest=
ing
bird that they wanted to ask me about.=A0 He says they saw it at Black =
Bayou
and when they first saw it the bird was hover-hunting.=A0 They watched =
it for
a few seconds before it landed in a small tree.=A0 After it landed he s=
aid
they noticed that the bird had black shoulders, a gray back, a white fr=
ont,
and a white tail.=A0 He said after a couple of minutes that the bird f=
lew
up, circled a couple of times and then flew off to the southeast towar=
ds
the treeline.=A0 They were at the observation platform when they saw t=
he
bird.=A0 He said it was somewhere around 1 pm yestersay afternoon.=A0 T=
hey are
fairly new birders but they're very observant.=A0 He asked me was a
White-tailed Kite possible up there and I told him that there was one s=
een
in that exact spot last year in May.=A0 He's convinced that's what he =
saw
and I told him that from the description that he gave me that's what h=
e
described.=A0 How's that for an odd coincidence?
Good birding,
Mark Greene
Trenton, TN
=
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