Thanks to Bruce Baers' post I headed to Old Cedar/Bass Ponds this afternoon. Some of the water fowl on the large open pond took off as I approached from the west on the middle dike, but I did see the coot, the ring-neck, and the redhead (great looks on those) among the mallards.
However, as I was perusing the flotilla of mallards, about half-way down the dike, along from the east came a striking raptor, not quite like any I've seen. Flying parallel to the dike at just above head height, it appeared to study the waterfowl. It skimmed past with a few strong beats, then crossed the pond toward the river at about where the recently constructed outlet is. It continued cruising along the shoreline a bit, before dropping toward the water, out of sight. When I rounded the east end of the pond, it suddenly reappeared behind me, as though it had circled back around, and glided low over my head, then above the trees, toward the river again. I got a good look at its undersides in my binoculars. It was almost pure white underneath, but the tips were "dipped in black," and there was a thin charcoal gray border on both leading and trailing edge. There was only the faintest hint of pale gray streaks on the chest. Its upper plumage appeared to be a solid pale to medium gray, with a notable lighter spot on the rump, but this uniformity of color may stem from the nearly horizontal angle of view. The tail was rectangular. The wings resembled those of a falcon in silhouette, but this was bigger than a peregrine. I'd appreciate some help with id. Linda Whyte
