ML618665347

Age

Not specified

Sex

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Tags

Field notes/sketch

Observation details

*Rare- flew over wet woods at 10:50 heading west. Also seen and reported by Ana Santo at the same time from somewhere else in the park, and subsequently seen by others at the Toronto Islands and west lake shore of the city. Although there were many gulls flying overhead it caught my eye immediately due to its bright white/black colour contrast, wing and tail shape, and flight style. I've never seen this species before but the buoyant gliding flight style reminded me of White-tailed Kite. I decided to use my time to observe it through binoculars and did not try for a photo as it would have been difficult to focus through the branches. Distinctive pointy wing shape, graceful, long forked black tail, and black wingtips, otherwise very white (did not note the black trailing edges to the wings but that may have been due to the angle/brevity of the observation). Gliding purposefully west so only had about 10 seconds to observe it. Quickly consulted my Sibley app in the field to make sure there were no other kites with a similar colour mix/tail shape and made a very, very crude field sketch on my iphone notes app which is attached here.

Technical information

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