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hawk thrill



Hi Everybody,

I walked out the front door to get the paper this morning,
and startled a hawk of some sort, who had been sitting on
the fence right next to the house! She/he unfurled himself
rather ponderously and winged off to a medium high oak
branch about 50 ft away --to perch right next to another of
the same variety!!  One faced each direction, and I could
barely collect myself to notice--ok, they are both about
14+" bodywise, generally stripy and dark, with shortish
strongly barred tails and light underparts. I did not see
any reddish parts at all, and the tail bars were not obvious
while they were perched.
I debated whether to run inside to get some binoculars, but
after about 10 seconds, first one and then the other flew
off towards Ellerbe Creek.  The tails flared nicely to show
off the strong tail bars (looked like black on light), their
underparts seemed almost white, and their bodies were
buff-colored.  One of them gave me a nice upperbody look,
and there appeared to be a flash of lighter color across the
primaries (??a white bar?).

My best guess thus far is a juvenile broad-winged hawk, but
I'll keep my eyes open for other sightings.  Wah!  What a
way to start the day! I have a nice chipmunk for you under
the patio.... hehehe  Maybe the little critters are drawing
the hawks.

Joy Greenwolfe
Durham, NC, near Ellerbe Creek

P.S. OK, I have gotten nothing done this morning.  Saw one
of
the birds perched in a bare tree in the neighbor's backyard,
and was induced to go outside and investigate.  This time
(in sunlight), the head and breast looked rufous, as if the
bird were wearing a short poncho!  Underneath was still
pale, though, and the rufous did not appear to be obviously
striped. S/he was so fluffed up that the tail almost
disappeared from head-on.  Then s/he opened the beak and
gave several keeyer cries... which sure sounded like a
red-shouldered to me!  I'm sure most of ya'll would not be
agonizing over ID like I do!

The bird flew to join the second one on one of the tall
trees on the greenway behind our house, and this time I had
my binocs. Nice views of the pair. Beautifully barred tail
and a black/white-striped effect on the wings, especially
when they made short flights to a new branch. Definitely
lighter/buff underneath. They perched, stretched wings (to
pass), tore at some dried leaves in the branches, and looked
pretty perky.  Eventually they flew towards the 6 (or 11 or
however many) acre woods area off of Watts Hillandale
neighborhood.  What a treat!

J