My buddy Ken and I headed down the Kokosing river to were it joins 
with the Mohawk River to form the Walhonding river. We continued following 
the Wolhonding river to the Mohawk Dam. We were looking for raptors so 
we "GASP" did not concern ourselve with the small song birds. We did see a 
few great blues and king fishers.
This is the raptor count.

24 Bald Eagles Only one was an adult. The rest were this years hatch to 
four year olds.

10 Red-tailed hawks

3 Sharp-shinned hawks

1 Coopers hawk

1 Northern Goshawk - juvenile

    The Goshawk was the treat of the day. We had spotted a juvenile Bald 
eagle pearched in a tree but as we got near it flew off. That was when we 
spotted another large bird pearched above where the eagle had been. At 
first we thought it was another eagle but only momenterily. The bird 
turned so we could see the profile of the head and it was obviously too 
small for an eagle and the beak was a totaly different shap than an 
eagles. Ken had forgotten his bino's so I let him use mine since he is an 
expert at identifying birds, especially raptors. The Goshawk was very 
cooperative and never flew so we got a very good look at it.
    A pair of the juvenile bald eagles put on a nice show by sparring with 
each other including brief moments where they locked talons.
    Looking for raptors via a kayak is a great way to get up close and 
personal with eagles. The will sometimes stay put on their pearch as you 
float by. I have also had them fly over only tens of feet above my head.

Don Stover
Columbus

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