I was out in our front yard shortly after 7 PM looking for nighthawks when I noticed a large, dark bird far to the SE. It was coming slowly toward me and against the air flow (clouds moving from the NW). It got fairly close, then suddenly turned about and headed back the way it had come. I noted periods of soaring alternating with several flaps of its wings. In soaring, the wings were held at only a slight dihedral and came straight out from the body, not "hunched" like in turkey vultures. At a distance, I initially thought great blue heron, but decided the wingbeats were more rapid than I would expect to see with the heron. Unfortunately this is not a new yard bird, as Susie saw one last year here in the Spring.
Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
