Thursday, January 9, 2014

Breakfast guest, sorta

This morning, we'd just sat down for breakfast when I happened to glance up in the live oak. "Look, James!" I said, "there's a hawk!" I jumped up straight away and ran down the hall for my camera. Through the window, I managed to snap a few images (these are cropped heavily). 


Not for very long, he/she stared at me warily, then took his/her meal and winged away to some oaks behind our yard. I'm pretty sure our guest was a red-tailed hawk, probably immature. If you disagree, let me know! Wrong, Sheryl! Thanks to Anonymous, we know now it's an adult Cooper's hawk. Wow! A new one for us!

UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 2014--Wrong again! We have RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS! I just searched for their scream (listen to "typical territorial call") and it matches what we've been hearing. We've seen (and heard) three just today in our oaks and flying overhead. 

UPDATE NOVEMBER 19, 2016--STILL WRONG! This is a Cooper's hawk. Thanks to fellow iNaturalists and experts at The Hawk ID Group (Facebook).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sheryl, take a look at some descriptions of our local accipiters. I am thinking an adult Cooper's hawk due to the horizontal rufous barring on the front and the visible dark and light bands on underside of the long tail. It looks more robust than a sharp-shinned hawk. Nice photos!

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

I agree! Thank you! I shall correct my ID. Cool!

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

It's a red-shouldered hawk! :-)

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