An Unsual Visitor
I was surprised this morning by a large blur overhead and a great commotion in some low trees. When I went to investigate, I found this lovely creature hunting squirrels that were hiding on an ivy-covered building.

A surprise guest, much less interested in me than I was in him (or her).
Does anyone know precisely what sort of hawk this is?
The conclusion is that the picture above is an immature Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). We have, it seems, a few of them as residents on campus. Here are a couple of (somewhat less dramatic) shots I managed to get. This guy is considerably larger than his immature friend (though his friend is probably now about this size).



A surprise guest, much less interested in me than I was in him (or her).
Does anyone know precisely what sort of hawk this is?
Update
The conclusion is that the picture above is an immature Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). We have, it seems, a few of them as residents on campus. Here are a couple of (somewhat less dramatic) shots I managed to get. This guy is considerably larger than his immature friend (though his friend is probably now about this size).


Labels: pictures
7 Comments:
kind of hawk... a big one
Pretty cool, I want a pet one
It looks like a goshawk.
Try using this website:
http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/42/_/Rough-legged_Hawk.aspx
from that site that Eli posted looks like its likely this guy.
looks like it might be a female broad winged hawk - not sure but I think the males have more brown on the chest.
Beautiful bird though. Usually see them on fence posts around farms.
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis) - you can actually see the rufous tail in this photo. Coopers' have a long tail, are blue-grey or brown-grey (depending on age) on top, and streaked horizontally with reddish pinstripes on underside. Coopers' are acccipiters and Red-tails are true buzzards.
One more serious birder friend offers the same ID with slightly different reasons:
"Looks like a juvenile Red-tail. Probably one of this year's , with a yellow eye and a banded tail. Next year the eye will become brown and the new tail feathers will be the red-brown that gives it the name. Probably weighs close to 2 lbs."
These bird people are wonderful.
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