Hawk? in the back yard

[Doug Kerr]

In our back yard we have a wonderful spreading willow tree (actually shaped like a gigantic bush). Especially when it leafs out, it is home to lots of birds of various sizes and species.

But today we had a larger visitor, which we think to be some sort of hawk. There sure were no smaller birds around while he was there!

Douglas A. Kerr: Hawk in the back yard​

Does anybody recognize this species?

He stayed quite a while. When I went to the back door to shoot his picture, he turned head on to me for about a minute:

Douglas A. Kerr: Hitting his marks​

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Chris Calohan II]

This looks much like a Kestrel which is in the falcon family.

 

[Don Cohen]

Hi Guys,

Neat to have an encounter with any Raptor!

My raptor identification skills leave much to be desired, but I'm reasonably certain it's not a Kestrel. The American Kestrel is the only one in this country that I'm familiar with, and it is a much smaller bird, with different features.

Around my part of the country (NC) the Red-shouldered Hawk would be one of the most common, and that is what this might be, but I'm really not certain.

Looks like the light was quite harsh, but that's something you couldn't control.

Thanks for posting. Hopefully somebody with better i.d. skills than Chris or I will come along and provide a more definitive answer.

 

[Chris Calohan II]

I looked through my raptor book and went by color and beak. It would help to know what part of the country he's in as down where I am, we are pretty much limited to a few Merlins, an occasional peregine falcon, a lot of coopers and a few red tails so I to am limited.

I am pretty sure I will get a note from a birder in a few which shouldclear up the mystery.

 

[Chris Calohan II]

Put out an email to a raptor expert..will know something soon.

 

[Chris Calohan II]

Concensus is it's a young Cooper's hawk.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I asked Jaime Johnson, who deferred to Lisa his wife and more knowledgeable on raptors.

Lisa agrees - it is a Sharp Shinned Hawk -

Asher

 

[Chris Calohan II]

This is from our resident expert on another forum.

Rough guide is smaller than a crow it is a sharpie, bigger than a crow it is a Cooper's. There is one other possibility, what I meant to say earlier wasn't harrier, it was Northern Goshawk. If you have another shot showing the tail feathers, a Coopers will have evenish banding while a goshawk will have irregular banding.. It is immature whatever it is...

 

[Don Cohen]

Thanks for the follow-up!

 

[Doug Kerr]

Thanks all for all your wonderful work on this.

The site is in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in far south-central New Mexico (lat 32.903°N, lon 105.922°W, elevation 4575 ft MSL. We are less than 1/2 mile from the upturn of the Sacramento Mountain range (to our East). It rises to over 9000 ft MSL.

I neglected to mention the size of the bird, but is is rather larger than the ravens or doves we have here.

Information on this site:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

("Tricky Bird IDs: Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper's Hawk")

suggests that the bird may have been a juvenile Cooper's hawk.

He sat very peaceably on the tree branch (about 20 ' from our sliding glass door) for at least half an hour, and seemed to take notice of us when we stood at the door. We did not go outside to approach him.

We did not see him take flight.

We were thrilled to have a visit from such a superb creature.

Thanks again to all, and especially to Chris Calohan, for your great work on this.

Yes, the lighting was rather "harsh"—the shots were taken at about 2:45 pm local time (we are almost exactly on the defining meridian for our time zone), and the sky was almost totally clear (the most common situation here).

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Chris Calohan II]

For clarity purposed but not a full edit, I bumped the color up a bit.

Cooper's Hawk: Doug Kerr​

 

[Anthony Reilly]

Yup i'd say its a sharpy for sure, the pictures good but not clear enough to distinguish what age the bird is

Anthony