[birding] Common Black Hawk

[Jeff Fleischer]

Hi everyone,
> 
> Well, the temptation of seeing one of these again (several
> years ago I was very fortunate to see the first documented
> nesting pair of this species in the state of Utah west of St
> George) was too much this morning so I pulled away from my
> major kitchen remodel project to go see if I could relocate
> this reported bird beings that it is only about 3 miles from
> my home.  The area in question is actually north of
> LBCC about a mile or so and for those of you unfamiliar with
> Albany, Hwy 99 is also called Pacific Blvd.  Traveling
> south out of town on Pacific Blvd, the area of search is
> less than a mile south of the traffic light at 34th Ave.
> 
> Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes walking up and down the
> sidewalk adjacent to the bottom land where the bird was
> reported.  The area is a tangle of ash and oak trees
> with Oak Creek running through it.  I took plenty of
> time to see as much of the area as I could as well as some
> of the open bottom land just north of Oak Creek.  With
> the exception of a soaring COOPERS HAWK and a few TURKEY
> VULTURES, I did not see the bird in question.  
> 
> I decided that maybe it would also be good to check out
> where Oak Creek crosses under Lochner Rd about a mile or so
> east of Pacific Blvd.  You get to this area best by
> turning east on Ellingson Rd at the traffic light at the NE
> corner of LBCC and then north on Lochner Rd after driving
> through a lazy S curve just before Lochner.  The area
> by the bridges that Oak Creek flows under is much more open
> country and allowed a really good view to the west in case
> the bird might be soaring.  From Lochner, I was able to
> see 2 subadult and 1 adult BALD EAGLE, about half a dozen
> Turkey Vultures, and a pair of RED-TAILED HAWKS taking full
> advantage of the warming thermals over the area. 
> Again, no Common Black Hawk.
> 
> Having not seen this bird does not mean that it was not
> seen yesterday.  Concern would be to confuse it with a
> dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (this habitat though is not
> conducive to seeing this species) or a dark plumaged
> Red-tailed Hawk.  I believe it was mentioned in a
> previous posting that it might have been a pet. 
> Probably more accurate to say maybe an escaped falconry bird
> (if this species is in fact even owned/hunted by falconers)
> but who knows.  Anyway, I was unable to relocate
> anything similar to what was described earlier.
> 
> Jeff Fleischer
> Albany
> 
> 
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>