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Lair3514
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Cooper's Hawk and American Kestrel...I think.

Post by Lair3514 »

A lot of the hawks come and go from this snag. Great for the hawks that it's so high, but hard for me to get a good photo from below. Sometimes 20X zoom is just not enough. I'd say this is a Cooper's hawk. Please chime in if that's wrong.
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I'm almost sure next is American kestrel but I've been wrong before.

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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

I'm really rusty on my ID's, and have never been a Western bird IDer. But to verify your "labels" check out a Red Shouldered hawk and Kestrel. Your hawk looks too long and lean for the Red Shouldered Hawk, and the other is much lighter than the east coast Kestrels, but they are very similar (especially the markings on the Kestrel's face) and worth a check/comparison.
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Buck Hemenway
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Post by Buck Hemenway »

Here are a few South American birds.

In the city of Cafayete, just hanging out in the early morning.

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At the ruins in Tilcara, we were treated to an extreme bird adventure. The giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) feeding on Echinopsis (Trichocereus) pasacana flowers. According to Wikipedia, there are fewer than 10,000 adults.

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Buck Hemenway
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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

Wow Buck, what a thrill!
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daiv
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Post by daiv »

Lair,
Your Kestrel ID is right on. The first one I think may be a Sharp Shinned Hawk instead. Very similar to Cooper's Hawks - both have banded tails among other similarities. Cooper's Hawks are bigger. It is one or the other, I'm sure. Compare pics of those and see what you think.


Buck - wow! That is really neat! Love the cactus-eating pictures. So cool!
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
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Lair3514
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Post by Lair3514 »

Buck, nice South American birds, especially giant hummingbird.

Daiv, Harriet, I'll defer to Daiv's ID of Sharp-shinned hawk. I may be choosing the wrong yardstick but NGS's Field Guide to the Birds of North America, under Cooper's Hawk, says "...white tip on tail is broader than on Sharpshin..."

With this in mind, I selected these pictures to examine the tail tip:
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Since this hawk's terminal band is gray, it must be the sharpshin. At this hour, I care more about getting to bed than resolving this issue. Daiv's statement, "It is one or the other...," suffices!

P.S. It's next day. I found an interesting resource
at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutB ... Dtable.htm and http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutB ... rphoto.htm. Today, I'm favoring Cooper's hawk ID. It's just a tough call, based on such a limited perspective.
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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

Christmas Birds

Red Shouldered Hawk
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_DSC7827.jpg (86 KiB) Viewed 1637 times
Southern Bald Eagle
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Southern Bald Eagle being strafed by low flying Sand Hill Cranes
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_DSC7831.jpg (38.13 KiB) Viewed 1637 times
Last edited by Harriet on Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.
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paulzie32
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Post by paulzie32 »

Great Pics! I Love the Bald Eagle pics! I saw a dead one along route 4 here in Florida. I called the state and reported it, siting the same law you did Daiv. The woman said she'd get someone right out to pick it up. Two weeks later it was still there. I kept an eye on it every day when passing. Eventually, they cut the median and there were feathers all over! I was pretty upset about it. Obviously they didn't really care!
Anyway... I did have many pics of local birds, but lost them when my hard drive crashed.
I was sent this pic last year of an adorable little hybrid... Along with a picture of the parents.

I'll post the link for those that want to see it :)



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The Busy Parents - http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/ ... ereggs.jpg
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TimN
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Post by TimN »

This bird was perched on a nearby street light taking in the sights on a winter afternoon.

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A little closer...
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I have no idea what it is. It was fairly large compared to most of the birds I see.
Disclaimer: I'm in sunny Arizona, so any advice I give may not apply in your circumstances.

Tim
daiv
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Post by daiv »

Boy that one has me stumped Tim. I'll see if I can come up with something tomorrow. Perhaps it is an immature and therefore not so obvious.
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hegar
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Post by hegar »

This weekend I heard a familiar voice coming out of my pecan tree and went inside to get my camera. Just as expected "Woody Nutpecker" was once again looking for some pecan nuts. Unfortunately he decided not to stick around very long. I only managed to get one shot of the bird, a ladder-backed woodpecker.
The first image was shot at 20x zoom and the second picture is a cropped version of the first one.

Harald

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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

daiv wrote:Boy that one has me stumped Tim. I'll see if I can come up with something tomorrow. Perhaps it is an immature and therefore not so obvious.
There is a "Common Black Hawk" native the the SW US.
It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.
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daiv
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Post by daiv »

Good shot on the Ladder-back Harald!

Harriet,
I did not do so well on follow-up. I finally did look and am 99% certain that this is a dark juvenile Swainson's Hawk.

The Common Black Hawk juvenile is extremely similar, but has white/black bars on the tail vs. the brown/black that we see on Tim's bird.

Sibley notes that the dark and intermediate morphs together make up less than 10 percent of the population, but occur more as you go west.

Daiv
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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

Swainson's Hawk sounds good to me. I did not pull out Sibley and was going from memory, which is becoming more faulty with every passing day...
It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.
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daiv
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Post by daiv »

Harriet,
I think you deserve more credit for that memory than you are allowing. When you get a chance, compare those two and see just how close they are! Not to mention you knew that for that location it was a good candidate too.

Daiv
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
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