Same report as before with more detail: Feb. 19, 2011 Hamilton Creek Recreation area, J. Percy Priest Lake, Davidson County TN On an NTOS outing to Percy Priest Lake Jan Shaw and I observed what we concluded was an immature (sub-adult, first year) Northern Goshawk. The bird was moving north-east from the lake over the treeline and flew overhead. Wind was out of the north-west at about 15 mph. The sky was overcast but not too dark. Lighting was not the best but not terrible. We had stopped after a turn to wait for stragglers and the other group went on the lake (the bay near the mountain bike trail /BMX parking area). The area is cedar forest about 200 yards from the lake. I was out of the car standing when I first saw it approaching from the lake area. It dipped below the treeline, and came on towards us at an angle. Jan saw it at some point and got out of the car. I was viewing with 10x42 Swarovski binoculars and was on it the entire time it was visible. It was not flapping and gliding in the typical accipiter fashion but shallow rowing and soaring, tacking against the wind. It passed overhead at no great altitude. From underneath it was heavily streaked on the chest and belly, with no distinguishing pattern to wings or tail. Wings: generally buteo shaped, bent at the wrist but not angled and pointed as in falcon, with fingers of primaries splayed slightly, so peregrine falcon eliminated; wings not patterned in any way, but just appeared mottled; red-shouldered hawk and northern harrier usually have some distinguishing pattern in the wings from below, and harrier wings should have appeared long. The tail was longish and faintly barred, but not thin and long as usually appears in Cooper's hawk. Face not seen well. In size it was smaller than red-tailed hawk but much larger than Cooper's. Our experience with Cooper's hawks over the years told us this was bird was larger and evidently something different. We observed a couple of red-tails during the morning and the larger size was reinforced. Dark forms of red-tail did not fit because of size, and distinctive shape and pattern of streaks on the chest and belly of our mystery bird. Neither of us have previous experience with imm. goshawk, but by process of elimination going thru all the possibilities we could think of, we concluded it was sub-adult northern goshawk. This may not be enough evidence to hold up in bird court, and it may not be accepted by eBird's GBBC, but that's life on the birding trail, you do what you can. Richard Connors Nashville =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________