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hawk & small birds (1 Viewer)

Richard L

Richard L

Richard L.
I have either two sharp shinned hawks or a pair of coopers hawks coming to my backyard each day hunting small birds. I live right outside San Antonio, Texas. What I see strange is to see the hawk up in a tree with small birds flying near by. The photo below shows the hawk with a cardinal and another small bird near by and the hawk seems to be doing nothing? I once saw a squirrel go right up to a hawk and pushed the hawk on the breast, the hawk just raised its wings and fluffed up and stood there and did nothing to the squirrel. Strange the squirrel should "touch" any hawk but I did see it happen. I have seen bluejays and mockingbirds try to chase off a hawk sitting up in the tree. That I have seen before. Richard
 

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It's difficult to say exactly, but I think what you have is a Red-tailed Hawk, from all the spotting on the breast -- their bellybands aren't always 'bands'. And the shape is stockier than you'd see with a Coop or a Sharpie. And that would probably explain why you are seeing songbirds nearby, as Red-tails rarely feed on other birds -- they feed on small mammals like moles, voles, mice, etc., larger mammals as well, when the opportunity arises.
 
It certainly looks more like a Buteo than an Accipiter with its more robust body and relatively short tail. Also the spotting on the breast is wrong for Cooper's and Sharp-shinned (both Accipiters). I'm still not sure this is a Red-tail, though, even if the usual bellyband can be overlooked: The tail doesn't look right for Red-tail, but it could be that I'm just not seeing it well enough in my photoviewer. Red-shouldered Hawk also has spotting on the dorsal side, but I couldn't see any rufous on the wings ("shoulders").

This will sound OT at first, so bear with me: I've been told by my well-traveled b-in-law that prey animals in Africa can sense when they're not in danger from their normal predators, e.g., lions, and he has seen kudu and other typical "lion food" drinking at waterholes with lions lying nearby, seemingly disinterested. Perhaps something similar was going on with your hawk: It was well-fed and indifferent to the squirrel, other than probably being annoyed by its interrupted post-meal digestion rest. ;)

And all kinds and sizes of birds will chase off raptors, especially during breeding season! I've seen a hummingbird mob a perched Red-tail until the hawk, after ducking its head several times, finally flew away! :t:
 
I think Beverlybaynes is right on the spot here with Red-shouldered Hawk. It´s obvious not an Accipiter Hawk, but a Buteo, and since the wing tip falls a bit to short of the tail, which they do on Eastern RTH, but not that much, and they usually have unmarked breast. It looks short-legged like a Broad-winged Hawk, RSH looks longer-legged, and due to plumage variation juveniles are difficult to separate, if you dont see the white striped secondaries on RSH. That, we don´t in the image, but since RSH is a resident in the South (like Texanus) and BWH almost isn´t, the chance of it being a RSH is greater. Pitty the image is so dark!

JanJ
 
Katy Penland said:
Jan, sorry, you've lost me here. Beverly thought it was a Red-tailed. But you think it's a Red-shouldered? :h?:
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I see that now, that means she´s not on the spot ;)
The heavely marked breast (except in dark, intermediate, and rufous-morph makes me think it´s not a RTH.

There´s not the RTH jizz to it either, proportions, big head/small body seems more in line with RSH jizz
http://www.florida-tourism.net/florida-wildlife/red-shouldered-hawk.htm
JanJ
 
my web page of hawks

Richard L said:
I have either two sharp shinned hawks or a pair of coopers hawks coming to my backyard each day hunting small birds. I live right outside San Antonio, Texas. What I see strange is to see the hawk up in a tree with small birds flying near by. The photo below shows the hawk with a cardinal and another small bird near by and the hawk seems to be doing nothing? I once saw a squirrel go right up to a hawk and pushed the hawk on the breast, the hawk just raised its wings and fluffed up and stood there and did nothing to the squirrel. Strange the squirrel should "touch" any hawk but I did see it happen. I have seen bluejays and mockingbirds try to chase off a hawk sitting up in the tree. That I have seen before. Richard
Click to expand...

I'll list my web photos of the hawks I have taken photos of in my backyard, I have the dates they were taken. One is a young hawk and the others are larger.

http://community.webshots.com/album/512551777imjZOs
 
Katy and Jan -- I'll certainly give you RSH any day. I've not been fortunate enough to see many RSHs, so forgive my ignorance. But I have seen RTHs with breasts spotted like this. Red-tails can be soooo variable.
 
Richard, Katy Bevelybaynes,

I have looked thru Richards images in his fine gallery and all, except the Accipiters, are of a Red-shouldered Hawk, presumably the same individual, and the one shown here. In almost all the images of the bird it´s quite easy to see that it´s not a RTH, because of the the plumage pattern, especially the obvious white lines on the secondaries and in the one where the bird takes of from the ground, page 2, making the underwing pattern visible, is quite different from RTH, which usually has an unmarked (or almost so) breast.

JanJ
 
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