While perusing the eBird Rarities photo gallery on my lunch break, I came across two images of a raptor seen yesterday (4/7) in Ulster County:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54719551 Identified by the observer as a Northern Goshawk, the bird is clearly not an accipiter but a buteoine hawk. It does not appear to be one of the resident or migrant species expected here in NY though. What is it then? I think the facial pattern in particular makes immature Gray Hawk (GRHA) a possible candidate. But I’d be really interested in what other birders with more knowledge of neotropical buteos think as I have only limited field experience with that group, although that includes encounters with immature GRHAs (TX 2003, AZ 2018). https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47684324 With the Maine Great Black Hawk still a fresh memory and Zone-tailed Hawk(s) also seen in the northeast within the past few years, Gray Hawk is no longer an outlandish thought. Whatever the Ulster bird is, it could still be somewhere in the state, so keep your eyes to the skies. John Gluth, sent from my iPhone -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
