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Hawk ID please

Discussion

4 replies
Posted by Philip Hodgkins on December 30, 2010 at 4:33 PM
Hawk ID please
Bigger than a Sharp Shinned. Juvie Cooper's, maybe? Shot this morning on Tybee Island, GA.
Posted by Richard Ditch on December 30, 2010 at 4:45 PM
How about immature Red-shouldered. This looks more like a buteo than an accipiter to me.
Posted by Philip Hodgkins on December 30, 2010 at 6:36 PM
Thanks, Richard. The only thing I know less about than songbirds is hawks! :smile:
Posted by David Graham on December 31, 2010 at 12:52 AM
I agree with Richard; definitely a buteo rather than an accipiter. The bill is proportionately more stout / massive than that of any accipiter and the iris has the pallid yellow-gray of a young buteo; a juvie accipiter's iris would be more yellowish-orange, but not yet the rich red of the iris of an adult accipiter. The long, slender tarso-metatarsi are more suggestive of those of a red-shouldered; a red-tail's would be shorter and of a proportionately greater diameter / thickness.
What is that it's feeding on?

Dave Graham,
Estelline, SD
Posted by Eric Stogner on January 25, 2011 at 12:11 AM
Nice shot.