ML619751778

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***Very Rare | 4th county record; 3 previous historical records have come from Town Hill in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The bird had a slender shape in flight; it gave short bursts of flapping, then gliding, like a kestrel or Cooper's hawk. The bird had a black tail and primaries, and a gray chest, back, and head. It moved South until it was out of view. Originally, I suspected this to be something common that I couldn't figure out, and Mississippi kite was not on my radar, so I just marked this as diurnal raptor sp. to review later. Interestingly, the 3 Town Hill records are all in August and were probably migrants there. Since this one was in May, It could have been a wandering bird or an overshoot. Instead, this could be the start of Mississippi Kites breeding in Western Maryland (much more unlikely)! Lifer/ county bird #198!

Technical information

Model

PENTAX K-70

ISO

200

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/10.0

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

378 pixels x 252 pixels

Original file size

11.36 KB