A Welcome Visitor - 56K WARNING - Updated

I’m not at all knowledgeable regarding birds but I think this is some kind of hawk. After noticing this little critter on the back fence a time or two I decided
to try and geta couple of shots as we have never seen one do this in the 24 years of living here. Makes me wish I had a better camera with a real telephoto
lens. It had food in both claws upon landing, notice that it is looking off to my left.








It gobbled down the one piece and seemed to be interested in something to the side.












When I looked over that way I saw another adult hawk walking back into the bushes on the other side of the fence being trailed by three babies.
I thought all birds raised their young in trees, I was so surprised that I did not think fast enough to get a picture.




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When I looked back at her (I’m now guessing it was a female and she was getting ready to feed the babies) she was on the fence with the other piece
of food in her claw.






A moment later she flew up into the trees, what’s up with that when the others are on the ground???








This occurred last week, have not seen any of them since.

She's still here. Spotted her on the fence, she is a lot larger then the first one. I tried to get a shot but she saw me and took off, this is the best I could do.





I watched her land in another tree and got as close as I dared, I'm using a point & shoot Canon and enlarged these two as best I could using photobucket.







I sat on the back patio hoping she would come closer, no luck. However, while sitting there I did see the youngsters departing some very high trees and flying around, very neat.

So how did you cook them? What did they taste like? Of course I am kidding, but it seems a weird post for recipes & cooking techniques.

Hawks tend to nest very high, look for the nest on the highest ground or building around.

Probably a Cooper's Hawk.

http://www.wildflorida.org/bba/maps/coha.htm

http://www.wildflorida.org/bba/COHA.htm

S^^T, you are so right, wrong thread; my bad. Any mod, please move; thank you.

John A, hold on about moving your thoughtful post.........Maybe you're onto another culinary adventure!
"Avant garde" so to speak. We have a decent production of Crows this spring, do you think you might develop a few recipes for these young birds?
respectfully,
Ole Rouxdog

Thanks Joe, found this picture on line; could well be.




rouxdog, I have a couple of recipes for crow as I've had to eat it a number of times.

John

from it's size and colorings, i would agree with the cooper's hawk.

You might contact FWC, and send them your pictures. Coopers are a somewhat rare sight, and are being tracked throughout FL.

When I lived down on the river we had a mating pair of Red Tail's, up in the edge of our woods, beautiful birds in flight.

I have a hard time identifying the hawk but I am pretty sure it is very immature due to apparently no feathers on the chest. More like down and undeveloped tail feathers. It is definately a smaller hawk and not a red tail.

I wish you had a good pic of the adult. Could be a coopers or sharp shin. The coopers is larger than the sharp shin. Coopers is about 20 inches long and the sharp shin is about five inches smaller.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

CJK, what is FWC?

Paul, that is an adult; I'm guessing the female as she was wolfing that food down, again guessing that she was getting ready to feed the babies. To me
the strangest thing was the other adult (Male) and the little ones being on the ground going into the brush?

My camera is a point and shoot Canon, I used photobucket to blow these up otherwise they would have not been worth posting.

The hawk sitting on the fence does not appear to be an adult. Please note the down fuzz on the breast and short tail feathers. My guess is that it just fledged. Momma hawk is hanging out and teaching junior how to eat and hunt?

It is your hawk and obviously you saw it much better than I did. I just made some observations.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Wow John, those pics are awesome. We used to see a huge owl in one of the trees in our front yard occasionally, and I thought he was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. Hubs has got a video of some kind of giant woodpecker that was in our back yard one day 6 or 7 years ago. A couple of years later, we saw one like it on a tv program, and they were saying it was extinct. If the video was digital I would post it - it is unreal.

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

The hawk sitting on the fence does not appear to be an adult. Please note the down fuzz on the breast and short tail feathers. My guess is that it just fledged. Momma hawk is hanging out and teaching junior how to eat and hunt?

It is your hawk and obviously you saw it much better than I did. I just made some observations.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Again Paul, I know next to nothing about birds; you do so I bow to your judgement.

That being the case it must have been the female I saw leading the little ones into the brush on the ground.

Questions:

Why do you suppose they were on the ground, is that not unusual?

Does the male stay around to help raise the young, would he have been above in a tree?

The other youngsters seemed a lot smaller than the one pictured, they were a little further away so maybe it's a matter of perspective.

Thanks Paul,

John

Hawks frequently eat while on the ground, it's easier to use the solid ground against their talons while ripping apart their prey. They often spread their wings out to shelter the food from crows which will try to steal food from them. I have a sharp shinned hawk that is almost a daily visitor to my feeders, I love seeing him and watching him but I like the other birds that become his meals, too! He often sits on the branch right above the feeder and one time sat in the bird bath, not too subtle! I have seen him snatch juncos off the feeder and recently snatching a chipmunk which I wish he would get more of!

John, you indicated that there was more than one on the ground. The juveniles were probably barely able to fly evidenced by not fully developed feathers, down and short tail feathers. Momma hawk was teaching and watching. I am sure she could be very protective if necessary. I have watched mockingbirds attack dogs, cats and humans if they got too close to the nest. I have seen crows attack hawks in flight many times. Hawks are much stronger than crows but they are not as agile in flight. Geese will protect their young with vigor. I have evidenced that when I put out duck feed and the geese happen to be close by. If you get between them and their young, you had better look out. I have seen them bluff out people, dogs and cats.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Isn't the "squared off" tail feathers a sign of a Coopers?

John

FWC = Florida's Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
[url='http://www.floridaconservation.org/']FWC[/url]

Sorry bout the confusion, I have their site bookmarked, for when I travel down there and any updates on the saltwater fishery.

It's also where I renew my Saltwater fishing license.

Hawks usually nest up in structure (tree or buildings).

Hawks usually mate for life

The Daddy hawk gaurds the nest while Momma hunts and feeds the youngins.

Youngins usually take a couple of weeks to fledge (6-9 wks)

Generally a fledgling will stay in the same area as mom and dad, until the get big enough to make it out on their own (18-24 months, which is when the reach reproduction age), then they set out to find their own territory.

Hawks have a high juvenile mortality rate.

Mature hawks usually only reach 5-7 years of age.

That's all I know about Hawks

quote:

Originally posted by kland01s
Hawks frequently eat while on the ground, it's easier to use the solid ground against their talons while ripping apart their prey. They often spread their wings out to shelter the food from crows which will try to steal food from them. I have a sharp shinned hawk that is almost a daily visitor to my feeders, I love seeing him and watching him but I like the other birds that become his meals, too! He often sits on the branch right above the feeder and one time sat in the bird bath, not too subtle! I have seen him snatch juncos off the feeder and recently snatching a chipmunk which I wish he would get more of!

A couple of years ago I was controlling the long-tailed tree rat (squirrel) population in my yard and had just picked one off. I was maybe 4 or 5 feet from it and getting ready to pick it up for disposal when a red-tailed hawk came out of nowhere and landed right on it. It didn't make any sound but just stood there and looked at me as if to ask if I really wanted to take his dinner; I realized that would've been an unwise decision and backed off.

It must've worked on the squirrel for easily half an hour and maybe even close to an hour before flying off with what was left. The kids even watched it for awhile through binoculars.

Brad

Thanks all for info.

CJK, pictures and info has been sent to FWC, thanks

Just heard from FWC, it's a red shoulder hawk.

Oh my........

Such wonderfull pics

Thank you for sharing them!