Hello Tweeters,
During a visit to the Skagit area on Monday where we saw many Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles, and two American Kestrels, I briefly saw a medium-size raptor in a bare tree along Bay View Cemetery Road just south of Persons Road off Bayview-Edison Road. I talked to some birders at the West 90 area about the bird and said that I thought I had seen a Northern Goshawk. They said there had been only two sightings of Northern Goshawk in that area in 2010. So, I began to doubt myself, but they encouraged me to report this on Tweeters. I have a description but no photos.
I spotted the bird through binoculars and thought, ''That's not a Red-tail." It was smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk and at first I thought it might be Cooper's Hawk. The bird had prominent streaking (vertical) from chest to belly. I managed to get my scope on it for less than 30 seconds. The head was streaky gray with a noticeable white supercilium stripe. It flew off to the north into the wind. Its wings were pointed and it did not flap its wings very much at all. It perched again in the trees north of Persons Road. I managed to get it in the scope again but it was much farther away. Its head was blocked by a branch but I thought its back was a uniformly dark gray.
I welcome any assistance in identifying this bird.
Andy McCormick
Bellevue, WA