Young Red-tails can have a fairly prominent white base to their brown, barred tails.
We live in a mixed forest and open rural area. Harriers in migration will show up overhead, and sometimes low to the ground near the edges of the woods.
Bill Pulliam Hohenwald TN On Sep 23, 2014, at 11:27 AM, Ford, Robert wrote:
Yep, harrier is a bird of field and marsh . . .thought I would share an interesting past observation though. A few years ago I was in the field, and on 2 occasions in late winter/early spring, I flushed a harrier out of a small grassy patch in a small opening in thick forest a little before sunrise. I assumed roosting there, maybe in migration. But that's not to be "expected".Bob Ford Haywood County, TNOn Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Chris Sloan <csloan1973@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: A harrier is possible this time of year. They are migrating now and certainly should be passing through Tennessee. That said, harriers are field and marsh birds, not forest birds, so if it came out of the forest it is unlikely to have been harrier. If it truly had a white rump, then harrier is really the only option because it is the only raptor found here with a white rump. If it's possible that you just saw it from the side and maybe saw white undertail or vent, then more likely it was something else.Chris Sloan Nashville, TN http://www.chrissloanphotography.comOn Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 6:31 AM, Kristy L Baker <kristybaker@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Sunday afternoon I was watching birds from the porch again. I heard a jay scolding back into the woods. Soon other jays followed along with a lot of other very agitated birds. About 10 minutes later a large hawk swooped from the woods, along the fence line and back up. It was a large hawk, brownish with a white rump patch. I thought Northern Harrier and dismissed it. I then told myself I must have seen the front of the hawk and assumed it was a large Cooper's Hawk.I was reviewing some of my eBird listings and see that I recorded a Northern Harrier a couple of Januarys ago at the house. I had forgotten all about it, but I recall it as flying low over the trees.We have just under 2.5 acres at the back of a rural subdivision. Two sides of the property are along the woods with a large portion of the property in grass. Is it possible I seen a Northern Harrier? It just doesn't feel like I should have. Any other bird with a white rump that it could have been?Kristy Baker Rockvale TN Rutherford Count
