mississippi or white-tailed kite?

It was rainy so the picture is dim and grey... not sure which bird he is? He is big though!

Mississippi Kite - it has a black tail.

Resin

Definitely a MS Kite. They are not really a big hawk. More medium-sized. Mainly insect eaters. They are abundant around here. Unusual for this time of year, but I saw a kettle of 25-30 the other day while driving down Hiway 9 in south Norman.

Here is a pic of one in my neighborhood. They love to perch in the tops of dead trees.

Yeaaaaa! I got a mississippi kite:) I love your picture of the kite redd! A WHOLE lot better than mine. He may seem like a smaller hawk to you but I've only seen a couple of hawks and to me they have seemed to be big. Guess 'cause I'm used to seeing... oh say like a carolina wren! The kite looks like the hawks, very intimidating claws and beak. I love them, they are stealth hunters.... maybe not, I'm just glad to have gotten a picture of one. I hope I see him back because our trees are full of locus right now and we have plenty of dead trees for them to land on. Just hope he doesn't scare the other birds away :[

I looked at the white tailed kite picture online and it had a black tail too??? Maybe I got confused?

First time to see one of those. Nice shot too.

I got a picture of the red- tailed hawk today. He was standing one one leg though, it looks.. kinda funny

and another picture

I'm not sure that's a Red-tail. Looks more like an immature Swainson's with the white on the throat. Good shot whatever it is.

Yes, That is a good shot! We'll bump this up for Resin.

Oh... well, i don't know, they're all so similar, the red winged hawk, red tailed hawk ,swainson's, they're all gorgeous creatures! He was having a fit too. He was calling out extremely loud. Guess he didn't like me staring at him!

Yes they are all gorgeous. I love Raptors!

Indeed. I like them probably more than the buntings, and cardinals, etc. They're such great flyers, and then when they swoop down to catch their prey and open up their big claws.... and how they move their heads around watching for food. Oh I love them.

here's another one i thought was funny... it looks like he's trying to get food out of his beak

Tough call, but probably Swainson's. Don't think it's a fresh juvenile, more likely a one-year old bird - a fresh juv would have somewhat neater feathering (and I suspect juv Swainson's might not be fledged yet?).

Resin

I think it's a red tailed hawk because of the feather pattern on his chest... look at these texas birds at this website

www.pbase.com/dadas115/00texas_birds_2&page=1

Direct links:

Red-tailed: http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/redtailed_hawk
Swainson's: http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/swainsons_hawk

I'll take another look tomorrow (getting late here now!), but one other point in favour of Swainson's is the fairly slender legs; Red-tailed has thicker legs and larger talons than your bird looks to have.

Resin

well... maybe you are right. I looked again. I'm sorry Resin, to me they just look so similar. Well actually I'm glad that I seen a Swainson's hawk:) That means I've seen 3 different raptors here lately, awesome. I'm learning more and more everyday. Thanks Resin

Don't worry, raptors really are tricky, particularly when perched (they're easier in flight). I'm still only for probable Swainson's, not made my mind up for definite yet!

Resin