Searching for my first Red-winged Blackbird of the spring this morning, I was
certainly not thinking about eagles. When an anomalous-looking raptor (i.e.
not one of the many local Red-tailed Hawks I have seen) appeared in the sky
circling high over a woodlot on the east side of Keele Street at 9:40, I pulled
over to take a look in case it turned out to be a Northern Goshawk or
Red-shouldered Hawk doing a display flight over local territory (like many
birders over the past four years, I have become conditioned to default into
atlassing mode).
Even after I got my binoculars on the bird I was not thinking about eagles.
From a distance, the bird appeared to be a dark buteo. It clearly showed a
dark "vest" and a dark terminal band on its two-toned tail, so I began to think
that it was a dark adult Rough-legged Hawk. As the bird slowly descended from
the thermal it was riding and, in the process, flew closer to where I was
standing, I began to re-evaluate this identification because the bird looked
very large. Still, I had to remind myself, it is easy to misjudge a bird's
size in the sky when there are no other birds to compare it to.
Other anomalies presented themselves, however: for one thing, the contrast
between the vest and tail were obvious in the clear sunlight, BUT it was not
the bold black-and-white contrast that shows up on a Rough-legged Hawk. Also,
there seemed to be a shiny part on the head, which at first puzzled me (insert
"duh"). When the bird finally started to flap its way back up to a higher
altitude, the wingbeats were slow and the wingtips bent upward, suggesting a
larger, longer wing surface and a different "gestalt" altogether than a
Rough-legged Hawk.
It finally hit me as I watched it climb: I was looking at an adult Golden
Eagle! The "shiny part on the head" was its golden nape and - yes - the bird
was indeed very large! It flew with a slight dihedral when it was not
flapping. I watched it slowly moving north-northwest over the Holland Marsh
area until it was lost from view. This is only the fourth Golden Eagle I have
observed in York Region in the past twenty years. I imagine there are more
sightings than that in this area, but it is not a species that is observed
often in this area.
I still haven't found my first Red-winged Blackbird of the spring, even though
they have been seen both north of me (in Keswick) and south of me (in
Concorde). But I shouldn't complain.
Of additional interest today was a displaying male Cooper's Hawk crossing
Bathurst Avenue just south of Mulock Road in southwest Newmarket at 10:00 a.m..
The white, flared-up undertail coverts used in accipter displays puzzled me
for years until several contributors to this website informed me that what I
was seeing was not so much an odd field mark, but a behaviour linked to
courtship. This flaring up of the undertail coverts can create a white-rumped
appearance to some accipters, sometimes leading to misidentifications of these
slim hawks as harriers.
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
DIRECTIONS: Although the eagle is likely many miles north of Newmarket by now,
it was seen just north of Highway 9 on Keele Avenue, near where the Cardinal
Golf Course maintenace road meets Keele. this is just a few kms east of Hwy.
400. The Cooper's Hawk
mentioned above is, I suspect, one of a pair of local Cooper's that patrols the
vicinity of Bathurst and Mulock in the southwest part of Newmarket. I am
guessing, but I believe they nest in the woodlot along Old Bathurst, or in the
much larger woods that is part of the Joker's Hill property on the west side of
Bathurst.
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Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:57:04 -0500 (EST)
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Ashbridge's bay -- Lesser Scaup, Gulls.
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Today, Five Lesser Scaup (with Buffleheads and Long-tails) at Ashbridge's Bay.
Also four Iceland and two Glaucous Gulls.
Bob Carswell
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Subject: [Ontbirds]HSR: Beamer Conservation Area (11 Mar 2005) 68 Raptors
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Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, ON
Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 11, 2005
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 2 2 2
Osprey 0 0 0
Bald Eagle 0 0 2
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 1 1
Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 66 89 120
Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 3
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 0 0 0
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown UA 0 0 0
Unknown UB 0 0 0
Unknown UF 0 0 0
Unknown UE 0 0 0
Unknown UR 0 0 0
Total: 68 94 128
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Dave Copeland, Tom Reavley
Observers:
Weather:
Observations:
2-TV came by very high and dissappeared over the eastern horizon ahead of
snow showers.
Tom Reavley counted from 8-10 a.m. shut down from 10-12p.m. Dave Copeland
counted from 12-3p.m. No count from 10-12 due to heavy snow.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Bill Smith ()
Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, ON information may be found at:
http://www.hwcn.org/link/niaghawk/
