Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!hc!lanl!opus!dante!lrasmuss
From: lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Can you identify this mystery raptor?
Summary: Perhaps not a raptor?
Keywords: falcon raptor
Message-ID: <250@opus.NMSU.EDU>
Date: 9 Jun 89 20:34:35 GMT
References: <2795@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Sender: news@nmsu.edu
Distribution: usa
Lines: 26

Regarding the raptor in the dusk question...
> An unknown raptor flew overhead.  I had my binoculars,
> but it was so dark that I could not make out many
> features.  The shape suggested a falcon: sleek wings,
> strong wingbeats, and occasional steep dives.  Two
> individuals spent the next 20 minutes overhead; the
> call was a short ascending squawk, perhaps 10/min.
> 
> The only field mark I would swear to were white
> 'elbow' patches, both on the bottom and tops of the
> wings.  I can't swear to a white throat patch.
> 
Would you swear this was not a Nighthawk (probably Common Nighthawk
in Dallas)?  The time of day, diving flight, and white elbow patches
all fit, as does the possible white throat patch. Nighthawks don't 
have white on *top* of the wings, though, but I think that could be
mistaken in the field.   I had to look it up in the book
myself because I couldn't remember, even though I see them (Lesser) all
the time.  Another difference from what you describe is that the
Common Nighthawk call is more like a short, sour, plucked banjo string.

Still, it sounds an awful lot like a nighthawk.  Did you see anything else
that would eliminate this as a possibility?

         Linda Rasmussen                  lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu
         New Mexico State University           (505)646-5598