While watching the Snow Geese at the Skagit WMA Hayten Access area today my
wife and I saw an unusual large raptor feeding on a dead goose, a hundred
yards or so away from the big flock of live ones.It was considerably bigger
than a Redtail, with a large bill and conspicuously long body and tail. It
had white feathered legs, with small black spots, faint banding on its
grey/brown tail, small whitish spotting on its wing coverts,and a dark
eyestripe with whitish supercilium and cheek. An adult Bald Eagle chased it
off the goose - the eagle was a bit bigger overall, but with a much shorter
tail and heavier build. The mystery bird had little or no white on its
upperparts in flight - we didn't see its underside. It headed toward the
Skagit WMA HQ but we never saw it again.

It seems rather unlikely that this was a juvenile Ferruginous Hawk, so far
north, west of the Cascades, and so late in the year, and my description is
admittedly incomplete, but nothing else fits at all. I am happy to leave it
as a mystery bird, but will be interested to hear if anyone else sees it.

Richard Isherwood
Port Townsend WA
Rjisherwood at gmail.com
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