Comments on: Can you help identify this bird?

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:54:11 +0000

Hello,
Can you ID this bird for me? It was in my back yard this morning. We watched it sit in the lake and take it’s bath, and we watch it fish almost every morning.
Thanks, Pamela

By: Ash

Ash — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:18:01 +0000

I’m Spartacus!

Wait. No. Sorry, wrong question.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:51:57 +0000

It looks like a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. The streaks are not all that extensive, and they disappear on the belly, which is often seen on Cooper’s. The legs are not the thin legs of Sharp-shinned. To me the tail looks too long to be a Sharp-shinned tail. I’m also getting the impression of the eye being close to the bill; in Sharp-shinned it is more centrally placed on the head.

By: Benton Jackson

Benton Jackson — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:57:33 +0000

I saw this picture on another web site, could it be the same one?

http://i.imgur.com/TsSt9.jpg

By: charlotte

charlotte — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:24:01 +0000

Thanks for all of your comments. h, I live about 5 blocks from 54th and Dorchester, let us know if you see the bird.

By: Malcolm Mowbray

Malcolm Mowbray — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:25:44 +0000

It could well be a Saker’s Falcon – perhaps smuggled back from Iraq?

By: James

James — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:40:07 +0000

The posture of the bird is called mantling — that is, crouching over its prey, spreading its wings and tail to shield the prey from the prying eyes of other predators including other birds. This bird is demonstrating a rather loose version, probably due to a lack of practice. I would guess that at this time of summer, this is a very early if not the first kill for this juvenile.

By: Phytophactor

Phytophactor — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:09:51 +0000

Cooper’s hawks are real common in our area, and the plumage on juveniles does look just like this. Love the way they drop from the top of our big oak tree and just make cardinals disappear.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:58:45 +0000

Sharp-shinned vs. Cooper’s Hawk can be a tough distinction (especially with only a single blurry photo), but I think this is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk: fairly distinct white band at tip of tail, narrow, fine dark-brown breast streaks mostly restricted to the upper breast, tawny cheeks, rather stout tarsi. Sharp-shinned Hawk has narrower white tail band, broader more reddish and more extensive breast streaks, smaller head without tawny. Also (assuming this is a recent photo) Cooper’s is more likely in mid August (breeds throughout the midwest).

By: John Callender

John Callender — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:55:31 +0000

Immature Cooper’s was the first thing I thought, so I’ll add my vote to that ID. But I think it could be an immature Sharp-shinned pretty easily, too.