We already have a national gobbler...
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:
My parents took some blurry pictures of an eagle eating the ass end of a deer that had fallen head first through the ice on a lake and drowned. They will eat anything.
Get the book, _The Guide to Colorado Birds_ (Mary Taylor Gray). That will have you identifying CO birds quickly enough.
_Plants of the Rocky Mountains_ (Kershaw, MacKinnon, Pojar) is a good one for plants.
“He was eating a possum which had been run over that night.”
That’s why some of the founding fathers wanted the Turkey
to be the National bird.
If you have a small dog, be careful. That bird has a nasty set of talons.
Looks like he’s saying Grace over his meal...
We already have a national gobbler...
BookMark
“It’s a Prairie Falcon.”
I think that is likely, especially looking at the tail shape but wish it was a better picture.
It will eat a squirrel, if it can catch one and keep it. Prairie Falcons most often eat whatever rodents they can find on the ground.
I concede it is possible it might be an adolescent red-tail...the feather patterns on the dark feathers do look very, very similar. Here is a comparison image I made:
I also saw this description: Most Red-tailed Hawks are rich brown above and pale below, with a streaked belly and, on the wing underside, a dark bar between shoulder and wrist. The tail is usually pale below and cinnamon-red above, though in young birds it’s brown and banded. “Dark-morph” birds are all chocolate-brown with a warm red tail. “Rufous-morph” birds are reddish-brown on the chest with a dark belly.
By this it seems there is wide variation in the irregular dark pattern marks, and I have heard the tail doesn't always have to be that red.
I ran across an article about a website where if you upload a photo it ids the bird. I’m sure a google search limited to the last month and better pics will get you what you need. In any case pets indoors unless major supervision or larger dog.
Too brownish for a Peregrine. They are more of a grey/blue. My guess is a Prairie Falcon. Pretty common around here. I’ve been wrong before tho.
In my browser, I can right click and “Copy Image Location,” then put it in another tab (or show it in the current window) by putting it in the navigation bar (where URLs go) and hitting “Enter.” The resulting image will often be smaller unless clicked on. Maybe you can do something similar to have a better look.
It looks a bit like a young red-tail to me as well, but...every time I try to identify one of these darn things, I see a picture that makes me believe I am wrong!
No, waaay too small to be a red tail.
I hadn’t noticed Prairie Falcons up here (over 9,000 feet) but have seen them down on the High Plains. Up here, mostly Red-tailed Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks (gobs of ‘em). ...and a Turkey Vulture once in a while. Bald Eagle once in a great while.
I’ve seen many birds of prey try to take a squirrel, but never saw one succeed. I’ve seen hawks take plenty of field mice, voles, and rabbits. Squirrels have this way of appearing to go one direction and immediately reverse directions. That’s the same thing they do with approaching cars, but they reverse back into the road and get hit.
they are also easy to identify by their markings. ;)
Oops. hit the button too soon. Anyway, these birds often get their share of squirrels as road kill.
Peregrines are pretty small, and their facial features are striking...not a peregrine, I am pretty sure. Peregrines have a smooth looking feather surface, very dark and uniform head with sharply defined white chin/breast.
They are beautiful.
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