Ed and all,

What great news that we were not the only ones to see the Goshawk.  We saw
the bird on Sunday afternoon, sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., and it
was heading due west, straight toward BWI Airport.  The perimeter fence of
BWI is 1.3 miles due west of our house, as the goshawk flies.

I have found that the best place to get a view of all of BWI is from the
Andover Overlook, on the north side of the airport.  It's a distant look,
but a bird like a Goshawk would be scope-able from this vantage point.  It
is located along the BWI Trail mentioned by Ed in his email.  The problem
with this location is that you can't drive right up to it.  You have to
either park at the Lindale Middle School, and walk along the trail for about
1/2 mile, or you have to park next door at the Andover Equestrian Center
parking lot, and go through two gates (through the center) and then walk
about 1/4 mile along the trail up to the overlook.  This venue offers a very
commanding view of virtually the entire airport, except for what is
obstructed by the buildings.

A lot of folks may not realize what a birding goldmine the airport can be,
but of course there is virtually no access to the grounds by birders.  When
I took on the Relay CE block during the recent Breeding Bird Atlas, I looked
at a map of the block, and declared that this would be a cinch--the airport
took up 1/3 of the block, and the rest was developed.  I wouldn't be finding
too many breeding birds.  Then Ed put me in touch with the "bird lady" who
was responsible for bird control at the airport, and I was subsequently
escorted around all the wild parts of the field, confirming birds like
Killdeer and Eastern Meadowlark, and Ed had confirmed Kestrel at the control
tower on multiple occasions, I believe.  And the Grasshopper Sparrows.  I
wouldn't be surprised if BWI had more nesting Grasshopper Sparrows than any
other similarly sized plot of land anywhere in Maryland.  They are
everywhere on the field during the summer, and also outside the airport at
the overlooks.  There was even a Wild Turkey that I was able to see at BWI
(subsequently hit by a plane), and another observer recorded a Horned Lark
there during safe dates, and no one knows like John Hubbel how tough it is
to find Horned Lark in Anne Arundel Co.

And then there are the other scarce birds, like the White Ibis that Ed
viewed from the control tower, and the Upland Sandpipers that are recorded
there on occasion (but sadly not by me).  I'm just waiting for that email
from Ed on some cold winter day, announcing a Snowy Owl somewhere on the
grounds.  So I guess it should come as no surprise that the goshawk has
found a stopping place there.  How fortuitous for us that its route of
flight was over our almost-urban acre in Ferndale.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie



----- Original Message -----
From: "Edward Boyd" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:00 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Marvelous weekend in yard, AA Co.


> Stan,
>
> It appears that your Imm. Goshawk hasn't strayed too far from your yard
> since you spotted it over the weekend. This afternoon while getting off of
> work at BWI at around 3:15, I found (presumably) your bird situated on a
> light post along the entrance road to the airport adjacent to the run-up
> block for runway 15 Right. For those that aren't familiar with the
lay-out,
> as you drive into the airport on the main road, the runway on your right
> that parallels the roadway is Runway 15 Right. When the airport is taking
> off to the east, you'll see the departures lined up here for take-off.
> Anyway, about 1000 feet or so down from the approach end there is a
holding
> area that is part of one of the taxiways leading to this runway, and along
> the edge near the fence are some light poles (British Airways knocked one
of
> these down a few years back when some lines were incorrectly marked for
the
> pilots to follow to get situated in the holding area). I digress again. As
I
> merged onto the exit road that is opposite this, I observed a large hawk
> being bombarded by a crow while trying to sit atop the fixture. There is
> sometimes a Red-tail that hangs out in this area and at first that's what
I
> thought it was going to be. Then I observed that the bird was much larger
> than the crow, with dark streaking from head to the belly with dark
banding
> on the underside of the long tail.
>
> Interestingly, when I was at work this morning, the supervisor on duty
over
> the weekend told me about this "big hawk" that soared in and landed on the
> rail of the catwalk of the tower yesterday. The bird then glided down and
> landed on top of the roof of terminal "C" for a time. (terminal C holds
the
> gates for Delta, American and Northwest). His description was right on for
> this bird, so it may be holding in the area if it doesn't get creamed by
an
> aircraft while it hunts the fields and forests here. I'll follow-up if
more
> observations are made in the next week and beyond.
>
> Ed Boyd
> Westminster, MD
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stan Arnold" <>
>
>
> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > Fairly late in the afternoon, Elaine and I took a walk to the end of the
> > driveway, impressed by the thousand or so grackles feeding in various
> > yards
> > across the main thoroughfare.  When we returned to the yard, I noticed a
> > large hawk flying to the east.  It was big and I thought it was our
> > Red-tail, but it looked rather dark; I was looking at it edge-on, and
> > really
> > couldn't see any detail.  It didn't fly like the Red-tail, either:  no
> > bank,
> > cruise, circle, hover, circle, bank, cruise... It flew in a rather
direct
> > line, turning little and allowing little more than a profile view.
> > Fortuitously, however, it did make a turn, and came right toward us.
The
> > big bird flew right over our yard, revealing heavy streaking from throat
> > to
> > feet, pale undertail coverts, and delicate banding on the tail--a
juvenile
> > NORTHERN GOSHAWK, yard bird #117, and yet another county bird.
>
> > Stan Arnold
> > Glen Burnie
> > 
> >
>
>