Marsh hawks (northern harriers) course back and forth over marshes and grasslands, surprising rodents, frogs, and birds with a quick pounce. They have very long, rounded wings and long tails, and are not very maneuverable around branches. They have a very distinct white patch on their rump, come in two colors (males gray and females white) and juveniles have a rosy cast to their chest and belly. Though they pass through the CT River Valley in spring and fall and have nested in meadows near Colbrook, NH, they are very rare in the winter up here and not likely to be in a front yard. Their flight is buoyant like a kite on a string.
 
On Jan 14, 2015, at 7:53 AM, Wendy Jane Sichel wrote:

> I don't think I would even call myself a birder, emerging or otherwise!....I love the birds, have a bird book, feed those who are willing to come to feeder at this elevation, enjoy UVB enormously. Really more of a voyeur here! 
> 
> Question:
> Could my hawk have been a Harrier? Large, brown and white, didn't catch anything else....no red tail visible, did not see the bill clearly.
> 
>                                    Laughter is carbonated holiness.
>                                                        -Anne Lamott
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 7:32 AM, Victor Henningsen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Meant to post this earlier.  Last Friday morning, the 9th, we watched for almost two hours as a hawk calmly devoured a hapless blue jay underneath a feeder we hang from an apple tree.  We don't have a decent camera but were able to spend a good bit of time with binoculars and scope watching the event.  Based on white speckles on the scapulars, we tentatively identified the culprit as a juvenile red tail. But Cynthia Crawford's post and pictures this morning sent us back to our guides and field notes.  Based on a closer reading of bird behavior and feeding habits and a review of our field notes, we now believe what we saw was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, particularly given that one mark we noted clearly was that the tip of its bill was dark, almost black.  The only remaining doubt is that the tail of the bird we saw didn't look as long as the guides indicate for the Cooper's. But Cynthia's pictures resemble the bird we saw and, bowing to her superior expertise, we'll revise our log.  We need to get a decent camera!
> 
> Either way it was a dramatic event. Nothing left at the end of the meal but a few feathers — not even a stray bone. Felt bad eating breakfast while this was going on outside the window, but the  chickadees continued to frequent the feeder during the latter part of the feast, so we weren't alone.
> 
> This listserv is enormously useful for those of us who are what might charitably be called "emerging birders."  Thanks to those who post to it and maintain it.
> 
> Vic Henningsen
> Thetford Center
> 
> [log in to unmask] 
> 
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