Today, a Red-Shouldered Hawk decided to perch on one of our deck posts for an hour or two. I am pretty sure that it was hunting voles, of which Candy and I are more than willing to share from our overly bountiful cache. Hopefully, the bird ate well.
It stayed on the post plenty long enough for me to get my Nikon and find a window without a screen so that I could get better pictures. Here is one of my favorites.
I guessed that it was a Broad-Shouldered Hawk. To recognize a second “good” for the day, several fine folks on the MOBIRDS-L mailing list were kind enough to educate me on how to identify this species. Bill Eddleman provided the most detail.
It is a Red-shouldered Hawk. Much too “chunky” to be a Coopers, so it is a buteo. Red-shouldered has a longer tail relative to primary length than does a Broad-winged. It also has narrower streaks that extend further down the belly. Broad-winged has wider steaks that end on the lower breast-upper belly. This individual also is beginning to show the red “shoulder.”
One more photo, just because it is such a cool bird.
An amazing encounter, Art. Good to see that you got some great pictures.
Nice shots!
Very nice hawk pics! Had an owl in our neighbor’s yard the other day. So fun to see up close.