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Northern Goshawk!



At 11:15 am, Harvey Neal, Ron Selvey, and I were observing a Brown Creeper
on the east side of the Nature Trail in Jackson Park today (12/7/01).  We
were standing about 50 yards south of the boardwalk.

A LARGE (larger than a Cooper's Hawk) hawk flew toward us above the conifers
of the picnic area east of the N.T.  Immediately we noticed that flap-flap
glide pattern and the fact that this large hawk was very streaked with
barring on its wings.  In vane we searched for definite white stripes in the
tail or crescents in the wings, to dismiss it as the local Red-shouldered
Hawk.  No white underparts could turn the mystery bird into a local
Red-tailed Hawk.
   Harvey noticed a white-eye stripe which neither Ron or I could confirm.

But we played the game:  What flies like an accipiter but is a third again
as big as a Cooper's Hawk?  We considered Northern Harrier, but Harvey said
that the lower belly of a NOHA is whitish.

Harvey has never seen a NOGO before, and Ron wants to confirm his suspicions
(when I blurted out "Northern Goshawk."  He says he was thinking the same
thing.

I know that you all don't like taking the word of a few birders you don't
know, but I am suggesting that this might be an irruptive year (See NGS
field guide for NOGO.) and you might like having the opportunity to try and
convince other birders that you are not hallucinating when your turn comes.

Wayne Forsythe,  where were you and your digital video camera when we need
you!

Regards,
John Lindfors
mailto: JLindfors@msn.com
Hendersonville, North Carolina