Hawks off of 495 around American Legion Bridge?

[Kimba]

Hello All,

I just joined this group because of my fascination for birds. I am new to the obsession of identifying birds, and I came across this group after a "google image searches" led me through a rabbit hole me to this group.I'm happy to find this community of bird aficionados. So...lately I've noticed what appears to be hawks as I drive down 495 from Maryland into Virginia. Today one flew right onto a street lamp as I drove underneath. And also today, traveling from Virginia into Maryland, as I exited 66 East onto 495 North, bam- perched on a street lamp, another what appeared to be hawk. I continued my drive and noticed ANOTHER big bird, chilling on yet another street lamp, with what seemed to be reddish patches on the side of its face.... I wonder if it was a falcon? I wonder why they are hanging out near 495? And I'm not sure if they were all hawks. It's kind of hard to get a good look or take a picture when driving! I was wondering if anyone has seen similar sightings or could shed some insight into what birds of prey are most typical to this area? Any thoughts or tips for resources to learn more about birds in this area would be much appreciated!

[Gail B. Mackiernan %3Ckatahdinss%40comcast.net%3E]

Hi --

At this time of year it is not uncommon to see hawks sitting on lampposts and other structures along the major roadways. Most are buteos. For example, on a recent drive to Warrenton VA I saw a number of both Red-shouldered and Redtailed Hawks sitting on highway structures and also, we had a RS fly right in front of us to catch (or attempt to catch) prey in the median of I-66. Perched hawks can be hard to ID but adult Red-shouldered will have a reddish breast and be relatively small and Red-tails usually have a whitish breast with a distinct "belly band" of darker feathering; they are also larger birds. Immature birds are more challenging, especially at 65 mph!

You may also see vultures hunkered on highway structures, especially if the weather is poor. Both Turkey and Black Vultures are migrating now and can be very numerous in the sky on good days and sitting dejectedly on trees, buildings, cell towers and other structures on unfavorable days.

It is not impossible to see other hawks such as Cooper's Hawks sitting along the roadway but they are not commonly seen this way. I have rarely seen falcons along the road but there are nesting Peregrines on several area bridges as these are sometimes visible as you whizz by.

The best way to learn bird ID is to join one of the local bird clubs (you do not say where you live in MD but most counties have a local club) and go on field trips. Many clubs design some of their trips specifically for novice birders. Also, the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase has regular field trips to birding sites around the area. If you do get any photos, you can post them to the MD Birding Facebook page or here (if small files) for help.

Good birding!

Gail Mackiernan

Colesville, MD

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From: "Kimba" <kimly...@gmail.com>
To: mdbi...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 11:43:33 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Hawks off of 495 around American Legion Bridge?

Hello All,

I just joined this group because of my fascination for birds. I am new to the obsession of identifying birds, and I came across this group after a "google image searches" led me through a rabbit hole me to this group.I'm happy to find this community of bird aficionados. So...lately I've noticed what appears to be hawks as I drive down 495 from Maryland into Virginia. Today one flew right onto a street lamp as I drove underneath. And also today, traveling from Virginia into Maryland, as I exited 66 East onto 495 North, bam- perched on a street lamp, another what appeared to be hawk. I continued my drive and noticed ANOTHER big bird, chilling on yet another street lamp, with what seemed to be reddish patches on the side of its face.... I wonder if it was a falcon? I wonder why they are hanging out near 495? And I'm not sure if they were all hawks. It's kind of hard to get a good look or take a picture when driving! I was wondering if anyone has seen similar sightings or could shed some insight into what birds of prey are most typical to this area? Any thoughts or tips for resources to learn more about birds in this area would be much appreciated!

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