Today I found the small dark morph hawk reported by Phil Kelly a couple
of days ago at the Nisqually Refuge. It was perched in the cottonwood
trees within the boardwalk area. At first glance I thought it was a
Crow. I watched this bird for about ten minutes before it flew into the
willow trees where the ponds are near the twin barns. I was lucky enough
to have the hawk fly directly over head showing all the underside
markings. The underwing coverts and axillaries were dark, and the
secondaries and primaries were whitish in color except for the edges and
tips giving a good contrast. The tail had a single band on the outer
edge. The Sibley guide shows a dark juvenile Broad-winged Hawk which
best fits what I saw.

Other birds seen at the refuge today were;
American Kestrel - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Northern Shrike - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Rough Legged Hawk - 1
Greater White Fronted Geese - 3
Eurasian Wigeons
Purple Finches
Bald Eagle with a duck or small goose in talons
Dunlin


Dave Hayden
Lakewood WA
dtvhm (at) nwrain.com