www.paperartistsonline.com

I assume it’s the same one.

Wow!! Does he come back every year?

They live in our “neighborhood”. I know nothing about birds but suspect it’s the same one but grown up now.
Good eatin’ for birds of prey in our part of the county.

When you say grown up, do you mean larger or just different plumage? This guy has me stumped for your part of the country. I just can’t see enough details to ID him. He’s in your neighborhood year round you think? This will keep me up all night until I figure it out.

Farley, is this the Cooper’s hawk that was on my porch a while back? You said it was a juvenile. We see it all the time and assume it’s the same one. Are they territorial?

From what I can see this is not the Cooper’s Hawk I ID’d before. This is an entirely different species of raptor. A Coop has an extremely long tail extending beyond it’s folded wing tips. Your guy here does not plus other field marks that are missing for a Cooper’s. It’s the relatively clear, whitish breast that is confusing me. Cooper’s of any age will have a lot of marking on the breast in brown streaks or red barring when mature. It’s difficult to get necessary details through that screen.

I went through only one my North America field guides for raptors in your area and nothing clicked for me. I love a good bird mystery and won’t rest until I figure it out, LOL.

Oh my goodness. I wish I had a shot of him as he flew away. Such beautiful strong legs. I saw him again this afternoon as he flew up to the tallest tree around.

pamcook wrote:Oh my goodness. I wish I had a shot of him as he flew away. Such beautiful strong legs. I saw him again this afternoon as he flew up to the tallest tree around.

I have no doubt that once one of us figures out what it is, I’ll be slapping myself in the head for not getting it sooner. But I am stumped for now. I’ve been pouring over my books off and on all afternoon.

I sent the picture to the raptor center tonight. Maybe they can help? There’s a tiny dot in the top of the center tree in the picture. That’s him.

Oh good! Do let me know if you hear back from them. I’m annoyed that I can’t figure this one out. But I’ll give myself a pass in that I don’t know the Eastern Raptors at all. We have a few raptors in common but he’s not fitting the usual field marks for any of them for me.

I can see why he’s hanging out in your neighborhood...beautiful woods.

I've been trying to figure it out, too. Pam, when you say 'beautiful strong legs', did they appear to be feathered, as if he was wearing pants? If not, could you tell what colour they were, i.e. very yellow? Can you guesstimate how long he is, based on the size of the light he's perched on?

Good mystery!

Joel
Says the light fixture is about 10”. I say 12”.
Yes, legs were feathered - like pantaloons. The feathers were the same color as his breast feathers.

The feathered legs are a good clue - not a lot of hawks have those. Based on your size estimate, the legs and the details we can see, I'm guessing a rough-legged hawk, light morph. Especially if it's a juvenile bird, the breast could be very light with not a lot of markings. Hard to tell with the angle of his head but this bird doesn't seem to have a very large beak - also in keeping with a roughie.

Of course - I could be completely wrong LOL.

Keitha wrote:The feathered legs are a good clue - not a lot of hawks have those. Based on your size estimate, the legs and the details we can see, I'm guessing a rough-legged hawk, light morph. Especially if it's a juvenile bird, the breast could be very light with not a lot of markings. Hard to tell with the angle of his head but this bird doesn't seem to have a very large beak - also in keeping with a roughie.

Of course - I could be completely wrong LOL.

Keitha, Rough-legged also crossed my mind except for their range (though a bit north of NC but certainly possible) and that light morphs still have a lot of dark streaking on the belly. But from the back view, yes. Good call on the beak.


Pam check here and see if any of these ring a bell. You mentioned how it looked in flight...

https://www.google.com/search?q=rough-l ... ent=safari

Goodness.
I wonder is this how witnesses feel when choosing a criminal in a line up?? all very similar. I feel like his lower legs and feet were dark? The over all coloring is similar though. I hope the raptor center answers.