I just received this intriguing but sadly delayed alert. Also, for what it's worth, the reported Golden-fronted Woodpecker turned out, not surprisingly, to be a Red-bellied.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <[email protected]> Date: Jun 1, 2012 9:07 PM Subject: [eBird Alert] Year Needs Alert for Seneca <hourly> To: <[email protected]> *** Species Summary: - Mississippi Kite (1 report) --------------------------------------------- Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) (1) - Reported May 26, 2012 09:50 by Andrea Burke - Montezuma NWR Mays Point Pool, Seneca, New York - Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=42.9946205,-76.7637599&ll=42.9946205,-76.7637599 - Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10894283 - Comments: "The bird flew out of the east and over the pool where it spooked the shore birds. It had a steady flight with even wing beats unlike the powerful or quick beats of the falcons, or the flap and glide of an accipiter. It banked so I saw its underside briefly, and then turned back east. It was about the same size as a coopers hawk. Following are descriptive details: white head and neck/ dark eyespot/ dark mandibles with hooked upper/ upper wings, back and rump gray except for some white on backed edge of wings/ tail long and dark top and bottom and seemed narrower a the base when it turned/ primaries dark, rest of underside of wing light gray to white/ underside base of primaries and maybe some of base of secondaries lighter than rest of underside of wing/ no observations of the legs/ wings longer and narrower than accipiters but not as narrow as falcons The overall impression was of a monochrome raptor with a startlingly light head and neck, contrasting with gray and dark primaries, and having unremarkable flight. I was using 10x50 binoculars. The day was sunny. I have never seen any other raptor like this. The last time I was here, a birder at May's Point showed me a digital picture she had just taken which looked like a kite of uncertain species. I didn't see the bird then." -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
