Thursday
Jul292010
Mystery bird
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 6:15AM 
I was outside taking the bungie cords off the trash can around 6 a.m. this morning when I heard an unusual birdcall. When I looked up, I saw the shape above.
Rushed inside, grabbed my camera and telephoto lens, shot a close-up:
The light blue line is the telephone wire. I increased the exposure in the image to better see the details on the bird, but I don't have time right now to do much other editing.
Anyone know what kind of bird this is? I only managed to get a few shots before the bird flew off.
Got home from the cottage yesterday afternoon but I'm leaving for L.A. and the SCBWI Conference this morning. So excited!
Reader Comments (7)
Red Tailed Hawk, I think. You can try a Google image search and see if those pictures look right to you.
I'm thinking it might be a Peregrine Falcon? Most of the images I found for them online show a much darker head, but here's one that looks very similar.
Nice photo. I'd submit it to
http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/identification.html
and see which page they put it on. :)
My first thought is Peregrine Falcon. The chest markings are a good match for one.
This one looks a lot like the one you have but from a different angle.
This one is close to the same pose but with a lighter chest.
It is possible that this bird is an immature raptor of some kind, but the falcon feels right.
It looks like a Cooper's hawk to me...
Red-tailed hawk, immature. We can't see the tail in this shot, so I'm aging it off of the eyes, which start out yellow and darken with age + exposure to light. It *might* be a second-year bird but my money is on the first year teenager just starting to get independent of the parents.
The specklng on the flanks and belly would likely look like a 'band' across the lower belly when viewed from the front.
Lovely work on the photo! The dim-light profile is still a buteo, but I'd guess "red tail, maybe red-shouldered" and have to leave it at that.
HI Debbie - it might be a Kestrel.
I heard that bird call when I was over at your place last week checking on the mail. I mentioned to a scientist friend about seeing that bird and hearing its call and she thought it might be a kestrel.