A Murder Most Fowl (Pictures!)

[NightLad]

Hi all,

About 10 minute ago I looked out my window and saw a huge bird in my backyard. I ran downstairs and grabbed the camera (sadly just a family-photo type, nothing fancy) and set off to take some pictures.

I’ve seen this guy/girl quite a few times over the years, but I never seem to get a picture. Until today!

If you want a size comparison; that small reddish lump clutched in one foot is the corpse of an adult seagull, which s/he had just killed in my backyard, leaving a bloody mess of feathers and a dismembered claw/leg.

Would anybody be able to identify this particular murderer?

(Sorry for the low-quality images, but by the time I got close enough to snap some pictures s/he had flown to the upper branches of a very tall tree, so I had to use maximum zoom to get any type of recognizable image.)

Acting Innocent #1:

Acting Innocent #2:

The Get-Away!:

The Crime Scene:

 

[Confilo]

It looks like a hawk and is a hunter not a murderer. I've seen them fly inches from the ground real fast and hit pigeons or squirrels like nature's attack jets.
Those are cool pictures.

 

[garyg]

I've one around here that looks pretty much like yours - I have an amateur's id as a Broad Wing Hawk.

 

[KiltedShaver]

My thoughts as well. This is some sort of hawk. A beautiful raptor, well done on the shots.

Aaron

 

[NightLad]

It looks like a hawk and is a hunter not a murderer. I've seen them fly inches from the ground real fast and hit pigeons or squirrels like nature's attack jets.
Those are cool pictures.

The "murder" comment was tongue-in-cheek (Playing up my pun in the title of this thread.)

I thought it might be a hawk, but I wonder which kind... hm.

We have a couple rare/endangered varieties here in Toronto, so I was hoping it might be one of them. For a big city we have many large predatory birds, and several varieties of hawk.

I live not far from the beach (hence the sea gull lunch!) and a large conservation ravine, so I often see all kinds of urban wildlife, including foxes.

 

[Jim]

Broad winged I would also say. As a very casual birder, I find the birds of prey the most challenging to ID overall.

 

[Hawkeye5]

I'm not familiar with that one. There are several red tailed hawks in our neighborhood. I see them and hear their calls all the time. Barred owls and fox also. Not too many stray cats now that I think of it .

 

[Prince]

Back in January, a friend of mine came by the house. I was gone, but he called me to let me know a large hawk had been feasting on a squirrel in the front yard. He said he watched the hawk carry the squirrel up into the tree and eat on it. After a few minutes, the bird flew off and the squirrel fell into my yard.

My friend just wanted me to know so that I knew about the dead squirrel. He didn't want to pick it up since the hawk was still in the area, and I couldn't blame him.

When I got home, I found the squirrel. It had to weigh 4 or 5 pounds. This was the fattest squirrel I've ever seen. Almost the size of a cat.

I can only imagine how big that bird was.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I'd guess Northern Goshawk.

 

[Black Adder]

It's a Cooper's hawk. It is a member of a group of hawks known as accipiters. The other two groups are buteos and falcons. Accipters are built for rapid pursuit through trees and brush. They have short wings and long tails, and are quite capable of running through brush to catch prey. They tend to hunt other birds, and if other birds are making a lot of noise, you can almost bet an accipter is in the neighborhood.

There are three species of accipters in North America. The goshawk, the Cooper's, and the sharp-shinned. Good guess on the northern goshawk ID, but the goshawk is much larger and has black markings across the breast, not russet brown, and has a heavier, black marking pattern over the eye.

Don

 

[garyg]

Now there's a positive ID. I had looked at the Cooper's, but my source showed more than the three tail bands .. and a winter range south of the Great Lakes .. but my source is a field guide I received from my grandmother 30 years ago ..

And I agree with Jim, the birds of prey are hard to id - they don't just sit at the feeder & let me snap away ..

Fun to watch them hunt!

It's a Cooper's hawk. It is a member of a group of hawks known as accipiters. The other two groups are buteos and falcons. Accipters are built for rapid pursuit through trees and brush. They have short wings and long tails, and are quite capable of running through brush to catch prey. They tend to hunt other birds, and if other birds are making a lot of noise, you can almost bet an accipter is in the neighborhood.

There are three species of accipters in North America. The goshawk, the Cooper's, and the sharp-shinned. Good guess on the northern goshawk ID, but the goshawk is much larger and has black markings across the breast, not russet brown, and has a heavier, black marking pattern over the eye.

Don

 

[Jim]

Yep- thats it I would say, looking at the tail flared out is what threw me for a loop.
The broad wing has less stripes on its tail as well. In the photo I would not have guessed its an accipiter at all.
Dang this is such a challenge.

I may stick with waterfowl!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Now the question is, are they tasty?

 

[CCMphysician]

It looks like a hawk and is a hunter not a murderer. I've seen them fly inches from the ground real fast and hit pigeons or squirrels like nature's attack jets.
Those are cool pictures.

You, sir, are a Buzz Killington! I thought the title was quite humorous.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oTl4rabDoI[/YOUTUBE]

-CCM

 

[A-Man]

I'm not real sure if it's kosher to plug another website here (if it is I apologize and feel free to delete). But an awesome site for bird information, or ID questions is http://www.birdforum.net . That site has helped me many times when I couldn't quite figure out what I was looking at.

 

[Greyfox]

Nice photos of an illusive bird.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Those are some beautiful shots. I looked out my back window the other day and saw something walking around my yard like a turkey. It was a large hawk that had just flown out of the pine woods behind my house and hit a rabbit. It was only seconds after impact but the rabbit was already shredded. The hawk set the rabbit aside and walked around the carcass for a while, then flew up into a tree and watched it. After a few minutes, he flew back down, grabbed the biggest piece of rabbit and slowly flew off through the woods, just feet above the ground. It was really something to see.

 

[garyg]

Since I don't have a Gillette to ID, here's another of my local suspects ..
perched on next door neighbors' shrub .. but what is this one?

 

[Black Adder]

Since I don't have a Gillette to ID, here's another of my local suspects ..
perched on next door neighbors' shrub .. but what is this one?

Again, a Cooper's hawk... but in immature plumage. The plumage changes to the adult pattern through molting. Also, the eyes will get very red in the adult. This is a critical time period for hawks; they learn to hunt, or they die. Mortality for birds like hawks is surprisingly high. Most hunts end in failure, and when they're young and learning, hunting accidents are common, such as getting hit by cars.

The "giveaway" when ID'ing an accipiter is the tail. It almost looks too long when you see the bird perched, but it's indispensible for making tight and quick turns through branches. In flight, the bird looks too long, but the short wings and long tail make it a very specialized hunter. Also, note the long legs; they're very capable of running through the brush to catch prey.

Don

 

[SliceOfLife]

Are you a park ranger or something, or just an avid birdwatcher?