FLC OF AN MD88 HAS DIFFICULTY SIGHTING TFC TO FOLLOW. WHEN THEY DO SIGHT 'SOMETHING' IT TURNS OUT TO BE A C172 MANEUVERING. TCASII TA; THEN RA ACTIVATES. CTLR DID HAVE THE TFC ON RADAR; THOUGH NO COM.

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WE WERE LOOKING FOR A B737 WHICH WE WERE TO FOLLOW FOR A VISUAL APCH AT BDL. WE WERE ON VECTORS FOR RWY 24 AND TALKING TO APCH CTL. WE NOTICED SOMETHING AT A DISTANCE AND ABOVE US. DUE TO THE HAZE AND OVCST CONDITIONS; WE COULDN'T DETERMINE WHAT IT WAS OR WHAT IT WAS DOING. AS WE TURNED TO AVOID A CONFLICT; WE GOT THE TA 'TFC; TFC' IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY THE RA 'CLB; CLB...DSND; DSND NOW.' WE CONTINUED OUR R TURN AND STARTED AN IMMEDIATE DSCNT TO 1900 FT MSL TO ESCAPE THE SIT. AS WE GOT CLOSER WE SAW IT WAS A C172 AND HE WAS TURNING AND DSNDING TOWARD OUR POS. THE CESSNA APPEARED TO BE DOING AIRWORK OF SOME SORT AND DIDN'T SEEM TO SEE US UNTIL WE WERE ALREADY CLR OF THE CONFLICT. THE RA WAS RPTED TO BDL APCH CTL WHO SAID THEY HAD HIM ON RADAR BUT WEREN'T TALKING TO HIM. WE MAINTAINED 2000 FT AND WERE CLRED THE VISUAL AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER CONFLICT. ALTHOUGH IT WAS VFR IT WAS A DAY WHEN IT WAS DIFFICULT TO SEE OTHER ACFT. I FEEL THE TFC SHOULD HAVE BEEN POINTED OUT TO US SINCE HE WAS SEEN ON APCH RADAR.