CLOSED: Hawk ID

I don't mean to sound uppety here, lol, but my friend, Christie, wouldn't need to use anything in particular as a reference. She's been a raptor rehabilitator for 25 years. Accipiters are her specialty, but so is anything she handles, really. She's very modest, so you can blame me if I'm making it seem otherwise. She used to monitor peregrine nesting sites, has done work with the Peregrine Fund, condor reintroduction, Hawk Watch, International, etc., is also a heck of a birder and now a professional photographer. I'm thinkin' she's gotta be close to 70 now but it hasn't slowed her down one bit. She can ID a bird from mile away with a glance... LOL

I just ask about the beak/head reference because another raptor expert (at another time on another forum) was insisting there was a difference between the way the head meets the beak on coopers versus sharpies.
I don't question anyone because I'm no expert but the sharpies I've seen always look so different to me from Coopers.

Magpied, thats so nice to have such an experienced friend.

BTW, Nice shots of the hawk w/ sparrow!

This message was edited Jan 2, 2007 4:44 PM

pelletory, I think if the head-meets-beak thing were a contributing factor, my friend woulda told me long ago. She's so familiar with every aspect of raptors (and many other birds as well)--both in captivity and in the field.

Oh hey--I have a few more pics of that hawk with the poor sparrow :o I love "behavior shots"... but I really hope the sparrow died quickly!

I'm wondering if Resin could add anything to the accipiter ID topic. Resin?

Sorry for just getting back to everyone. I was out for the day. Anyway, what's the score ?

debnes_dfw_tx, when I mentioned earlier in this thread that I can identify the red-tailed hawk, I was making jest. Obviously, if I see the red tail, I know what it is (lol). Beyond that, I must refer to the experts.

rutholive, the wingspread was small, by comparison. I have photos of a Cooper (attached) and this hawk was a lot smaller than that bird. I would estimate wingspread at 16"-20". There is also a noticeable difference in the beak. For now, I must go with the Sharp-shinned Hawk. That is, for now !!!

Did it have thin legs or thick? And has it returned or do you think it knows it is on the WWW ? Patti

Here is a picture of my 'resident' hawk. Wish I could get a nice close up.

getting a little closer. It is letting me know that I am far from sneaky...and it has its eye on me. Boy can they stare.

Morning all! Love all the pics! As soon as I can find our neighborhood resident, I'll make my contribution...
~Amy :)

Thanks resin. It is a beautiful creature. Prefer that it not to be circling my yard, but it is enjoyable to gaze at. What a face. And those beautiful wings. appreciate the i.d.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2007 3:26 PM

Today when I came out of the wild bird store, Maureen and I spotted a really huge RTHawk sitting on a wire, surveying the field below... Left face side...

Right face side... He was huge... almost as wide as the telephone pole there..

Sorry, here is the view from farther back so you can see the pole..

Nice pics Deb! They are big ones aren't they?

LOL...looking at you from over his shoulder...great capture Deb!

Thanks and yes, amylen, he saw me....lol.

Deb, good photos. I saw two here in my yard yesterday. Tried to get a good photo but didn't. One was male and I think the larger one was his mate. They are having a hard time find a meal. A little later when I went to town, one of them (I presume) was sitting on a power pole eating something.

I believe the ones around me are Coopers. They don't come into my garden since I took down my feeders. They were catching the doves and sparrows and eventually ran all the doves away.

We have solar screens on our bedroom window which is great for watching the birds but you can't take pics thru it. One day I watched the hawk come right up to the bed next to my window. It sat on the stones and looked inside the bushes at a sparrow hiding. My cats LOVE to sit in this window too!

Those look like turkey vultures, kblond.

Those are definatly Turkey Vultures, a magnificent creature!! Notice the black body and wing and whiteish feather definition...One of our very favorite birds. Linth has some great close-ups of them! Their wingspan is about 5 1/2 -6'. Natures cleaner-uppers!
Nice shots Paige! Ben and I love how they soar high in the sky.

Linths pics:
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/linthicum_1167146993_148.jpg

http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/linthicum_1167153418_24.jpg

Edited to say, unlike hawks they dont go for live food..only things already dead for the most part.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2007 7:30 AM

You can always tell the non birder in a car when you are driving and someone says "TV's " and the non birder starts looking for a monitor on the dashboard (and not the lizard type) and has no idea that what we are talking about is a vulture. My DH and I have seen more than the normal this year or so it seems. Patti

Y'all are great! We really DO have hawks but we also have these freaky TV's! I would never know the difference up high like that, especially when looking thru the camera and it makes them smaller. They are gigantic when they land in the middle of the roads for lunch tho!

Just to prove I'm not nuts I dug up the old pic. I can tell I'm going to learn a lot from this forum!

Yes ya do Paige!! I have one like him... Mine is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, (i believe).. Yours looks very much the same.. from the back.

I really don't know. It's very hard to tell, and I'd like to see the front of either of them. Mine was ID'd by 2 other DG's as a Cooper's last year, but who knows.

I just bumped up another hawk thread. It is interesting, you will see both hawks you are refering to, even dave, the photographer had not noticed they were different. Sure enough...they are. Maybe you can see which on your matches.

Thanks gg...I think maybe I need to stick to butterflies or TV's. lol ID'ing these is hard!

Heres a good site to ID them from below.
http://www.virtualbirder.com/cgi-bin/vbirder-boilerPlate/BKWHIF?CONFIG_ID=r03&CONFIG_FILE=/vbirder/HAWK/gallery/bkwheeler/Gallery.dat&BAND=mid

kblond, Just say "accipiter" :)

Just today a Coop preched on that same "Hawk" slat in the fence....peering at my feeder birds, and my next door neighbors too. Surprise I have both kinds of hawks! So far the Starlings are staying in Neighbor's backyard trees. They don't even try to come devour my suet, which is a good thing.. My new little Warbler friends get it all to themselves!

Here's Coop>

One of my wee Orange-crowned Warbler friends, (a Yankee Warbler, hehe), just staying till winter is over, and back north they go.. Ben (DS)helped me ID this one..

Very sweet little one! Thanks for posting it deb!

YW pelle! :>

I suppose since the WBC opened 2 blocks from here (about 8 years ago), many of the neighbors have been (shopping there), & attracting birds to this area that had not come this way before. I am seeing a lot more new birds this year than ever. When Spring arrives I should see a lot of transit birds too.. very exciting! All I have to do is stay home, tend the garden, and keep my Camera batteries charged, lol.

debs, very good photos. I never seem to have my camera handy when there is a bird nearby. Last year there were a couple of Sharp Shins around my feeders and they finally caught both of my chickadees to my sorrow. So I'm not too fond of those guys.

Ok Deb, you're a little too challenging for my tired brain tonight. It took me a few to decipher "Coop preched" (lol) Now, what is WBC?

I think she's talking about a wild bird store.

Ok...lol...that would make sense now. I've got a Wal-Mart nearby but it hasn't seemed to attract many birds. ;)

I'm so bored with my neighborhood!! We have no large trees and the only birds we have are our mockingbirds, finches, sparrows, barn swallows and the occassional dove. Last year I was SO excited I had Robins in my yard for a few days!

Do the hawks and vultures actually scare the other birds away from an area?

The hawks definitely do. I haven't noticed too much fuss when the Turkey Vultures are gliding overhead.

The presence of [hawks, etc.] only scares certain other birds into hiding or staying away temporarily.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2007 8:51 PM

For an area without a lot of trees in the neighborhood (except for a big wooded hill up the road) and not a lot of different birds, we sure have a lot of hawks. Do they hang around for the field rats?

The diet depends upon species, time of year and food availability. For example, grasshoppers make up much of a kestrel's diet. In the absence of grasshoppers, they'll eat whatever they can catch :)

edited to add: the hawks of winter are typically transitory.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2007 9:42 PM