[Mnbird] When A Sighting Is Not A Sighting?

[Linda Whyte]

Is there suitable habitat nearby? Wet meadow, etc? If so, why not a
Harrier? If you had stormy weather recently, might winds not have directed
it off-course, especially if easily available food was scarce enough during
early migration to weaken it?
Linda Whyte

On Thu, Jun 4, 2020, 8:49 AM Brian and Cindy Drill via Mnbird <
mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:

> Good morning all.  This is a late post, but I spent most of 2 days trying
> to figure out if 'I saw what I saw'.
>
> On Tuesday morning I was out to water plants.  As I walked to the front of
> the house, thinking only about unwinding the hose and what I was about to
> do, there was a sudden flurry of feather sounds coming from my right, but
> no vocalization.  We are talking about the width of a single driveway from
> me, at the front of my neighbors house.  As I turned quickly to find the
> source of the activity, a fairly large bird was launching away from me from
> somewhere around ground level.  It flew--not upwards, staying just above
> car tops but below the tree line--across the street and down the block and
> out of sight.
>
> In the few seconds I had to observe the bird (rear end view exclusively) I
> noted an overall grey color, but with a distinct white patch above the
> tail.  The flight was a bit different as well, a slower paced flap/soar
> pattern.  My thoughts were that it was too large for a pigeon, it reminded
> me of a hawk, yet I noticed some similarity to a gull in flight.  I have
> seen plenty of Nighthawks, and this bird was larger without the mottled
> coloring.
>
> Digging into my various bird books and online sources, it keeps coming
> back that I may have seen an adult male Northern Harrier.  I can't find
> another bird that has enough similar points to match up.  Thoughts?  Cindy
> in North Mankato
>
>
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