Strange Raptor Sighting (sorry no pics)

[Planking]

Its about the size of a red tail hawk. Solid bright white tail. Whiteish/Grayish wings with black tips. White head. Its hunting a wheat field about 8ft off the ground. I was thinking its a juvenile or something but ive never seen anything like it.

[ibhuntng]

osprey maybe?

[Planking]

I can still see it in a tree. It looks like white hawk from South America as crazy as that sounds. The only other thing i can find is a leucistic red-tailed hawk. That would make sense. Its a solid white raptor with jet black tips on its wings. Its 350 yds away, its just too far to get a pic.

[Swamper]

Hummm! But cool!! Maybe you can get a pic of it!!

[Huntaholic]

IS it too far to get a shot?

[Sackett]

Try google

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

white-tailed-kite-9.jpg (33.13 KiB) Viewed 288 times

https://animalia.us-east-1.linodeobject ... kite-9.jpg

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

^^^^Evidently not found in Tennessee^^^^

[Shane37110]

Somebody is missing a bird

[Sackett]

I asked a friend that does A LOT of bird photography. He said it is a Male Northern Harrier aka the Gray ghost.

[Sackett]

Across North America, from the Arctic Tundra to the grasslands south of the border, if you look in the right places, you’ll find peculiar creatures haunting the landscape. First they'll come into view over a distant marsh or meadow, steel gray with glowing yellow eyes. Then they’ll drift slowly across the land, silently stalking their prey. In short, they're pretty unsettling, but these “gray ghosts,” as they’re known, aren't visitors from the other side. They're Northern Harriers—adult male Northern Harriers, to be specific—and not only are they our spookiest hawks, but they may also be our most unusual.

The Northern Harrier is this continent’s only representative of a global group of raptors that are specially designed for silent hunting: Its long, broad wings allow it to cruise low, with minimal flapping, and it moves slowly for a hawk—no need for the showy speed of falcons or the lumbering hulk of buteos here. Northern Harriers hunt using their ears as well as their eyes, and to help them they’ve evolved a special circular arrangement of stiff feathers on their face that collects the sounds of rustling creatures and focuses them on the bird’s ears. These “facial discs” are rare in hawks but commonplace in owls, and if you perceive something owlish in the harrier’s face, that’s why. Unlike owls, though, Northern Harriers are bold enough to hunt during the day, cruising over wetlands, grasslands, prairies, fields, or anywhere else little animals are trying to use vegetation to hide. When it spots its prey—a mouse, or a vole, or a snake, or maybe a duck or shorebird—it uses its long tail like an aerial rudder to maneuver quickly into position to pounce. If there’s water around, Northern Harriers have even been known to kill their larger victims by drowning them.

[Swamper]

I asked a friend that does A LOT of bird photography. He said it is a Male Northern Harrier aka the Gray ghost.

Coool!!

[Planking]

Awesome! After looking at some pics that's probably what it was. Thanks

[Sackett]

Awesome! After looking at some pics that's probably what it was. Thanks