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November 2010

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From:
Verna Ansel <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Verna Ansel <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 8 Nov 2010 15:08:20 -0800
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OK, this is a tough one. Today at around 3:00 p.m. on Roberts Road in Hilliard,
OH at the westernmost part of Franklin County I saw two hawks sitting on a fence
line. I was able to view them for about 2-3 minutes from about 200+ feet from my
car with fairly low-powered binoculars.

One was mostly white, including the wings, with just a patch of dark coloring on
the leading edge of the wings. Underneath was mostly white also with just a band
of dark coloring at what might have been the belly band, and the tail was white
with only a narrow band of color at the tip. The size of both birds was as large
as a Red-Tailed Hawk and they flew similar to the wing beat when they took off.
The white one was eating something (looked like a rabbit by the size, but hard
to tell from my distance and the state of the prey) and the second one was
trying to get in a peck or two. The second one was more a common brown color. I
would liken it to a picture in my hawk book of a light morph Ferruginous Hawk.
They were obviously together because when one flew, the other followed. Size was
pretty much the same.

Again in my hawk book (Hawks & Owls of the Great Lakes Region by Chris Earley)
the white one looks an awful lot like a picture of a White Morph Gyrfalcon.

Now is this possible? Or was I seeing some form of a white morph Ferruginous
Hawk? Or are there others that might have seen this pair and have an idea? I
looked for a falconer thinking they might have been a trained pair, but they
were on private property and noone was around. Even after they flew I saw noone
directing or calling them.

Wish I could have seen them closer and longer, but birds just don't wait for us
slow-witted untrained birders. Any help would be appreciated. And I know you'll
have dozens of questions which I should have thought of commenting on. Fire
away. I really would like to identify this beautiful pair.

Verna Ansel
Galloway, OH (Franklin County)



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