Fast as a Ford
Yes, I'm a day late on writing the weekly post but yesterday the county first record of a Wandering Tattler was spotted and how could I not go out and spend my evening after work looking for it. Which I did to much strife. Anyway, it's been a slow week and that's saying something. Only 8 new observations were added to the project and when we're suppose to be getting at 30 a week to exceed past our previous years, this is not good news.
The observation of the week goes to @fishaspey for his photo of a male Sharp-shinned Hawk. I particularly like this photo because it shows one key identification feature. Everyone has had a is-it-a-Cooper's-or-Sharp-shinned situation and you always look for a capped look or buggy eyes or big head and all this other stuff. Yet there is one feature that will give you a species id every time without subjective opinions. The color of the underwing coverts. In Cooper's the fleshy part of the underwings is white with red streaks and crossbars. Sharp-shinned have black streaks and crossbars, which Scott's bird clearly shows as it contrasts with the rufous underparts. You can see the photo here and you can use it to identify your Accipiters:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90851623
I will say this to those participating in the project, we are experiencing a little heat burst after a few cool days but I suspect we're on the tail end of this summer season. Keep your eyes open as raptors will not be anywhere and everywhere, a perfect time for photography. Let's make up for a slow week!
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