stuart:
>1 sharp-shined hawk hunting dunlin - I triple checked the
>ID of this one just to make sure !!! Not that surprising since back home,
>sparrowhawks (the old world equivalent of sharpies) chase shorebirds quite a
>lot - pretty progressive for a woodland species).

Last winter in Florda, I was sitting in my rental car pulled off onto
a beach photographing black skimmer roosting on the beach. After blowing
off a few frames, they split. My first reaction was "huh, what did I do?",
but I then thought to look down the causeway (three-five miles from the nearest
stand of trees) for what I expected to be the inevitable falcon.

Nope: a Cooper's hawk, which skittered after the flock as they scattered
every which way.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>