Posted on 06/21/2015 6:09:41 PM PDT by GraceG
So across my street there is Hawk or big Raptor type bird that lives in a tree, well this spring it had some hatch-lings and now they are flying around the nearby house shrieking and raising a ruckus, think the momma bird tossed them out of the nest as they can now fly. Wondering if any freeples out there have any idea what sort bird this is, I managed to get some up close pics of them. I need a few questions answered.
1. Will they damage my property?
2. Will they kill the squirrels that actually do damage my property?
3. If #1 is no, and #2 is yes, is there anyway to entice them to stay?
Picture Below:
Broadwings are eastern birds, unlikely to see them breed in Colorado well outside their range. Not to mention Grace’s pics show many of the back feathers edged with white, looks like distinct white V’s...like a redtail, not a broadwing, which if they show white at all it will be in round spots rather than V’s. The V’s are a good marker.
The tail in her pic has a distinct white end, also common though not always present in redtails, with fine dark banding... whereas a BW would have much broader dark bands with only a hint of white, if any, on the tip.
A western redtail with have very different markings underneath the wings from an eastern, but I’m not sure which would be most likely to be in Grace’s area.
Redtails do have plumage on the upper legs. Sometimes it is plain cream, sometimes cream with light ticking, sometimes with very dark banded markings.
Juvie goshawks have uniform dark markings on the entire chest and belly, looks like grace’s hawk has a substantial white unmarked area.
Juvenile redtail [not the race with darker wing markings]
https://v4s2.yimg.com/sk/3519/3850676259_d618d9d6f6_z.jpg
Food is food, baby!
White breast patch, dark streaked belly band, white streaked V-pattern on the back, yet undeveloped red in tail, overall head shape, bill shape, size, tolerance of humans, nesting site, tail length, tail markings, proportions, coloration, all scream light, Western, juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.
red tail hawk....they are actually quite delicious
Lucky you! But couldn’t you have made the pictures a little larger? I had to put my reading glasses on.........LOL!
Neither one, both nest high on cliff sides (or in the case of Peregrines, tall building), not in trees.......
Prairie Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Thanks for ypur comment. There are indeed Western red-tails with darker underwing colors. However, some juvenile Westerns appears similar to Easterns. As author Jerry Liguori says under the light morph Western in his Figure RT 07 in "Hawks From Every Angle," "Many Western juveniles have white throat and faintly marked underwing coverts (right), appearing identical to Eastern birds (see FH Pitfall 02)." Unfortunately, GraceG's photos don't show the underwing areas.
Adult red-tails I have photographed in Yellowstone, Southern Arizona, and central Texas have what looks like smeared vertical dark streaks right under the head feathers and lighter looking markings on the belly than what I'm used to with Texas juveniles. Here is an adult red tail from Yellowstone:
And one from Arizona: 
Pics are a tad small. Can you make them bigger? /s
Or... you can just right-click on the image and select “View image”. And increase or decrease size with fncn +/-.
Oops. That’s CTRL +/-, not Function.
Dang... I heard you the first time! :-)
Thanks for the ping, Jaz!
I'll Freepmail you when the breeding bird survey season ends.
Good call. You know your field marks.
Thanks Fly, I knew it’d be an easy one for you. Didn’t expect an immediate reply, figured you be out in the boonies somewhere. :-)
Looking forward to your Freepmail.
Raptors have many phases; juvenile, adult, moulting, seasonal change, etc.. What do you suggest?
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