Bird Nut
Well-known member
Saturday (Dec. 20) a little after 5 p.m., I went out to sit on my deck (in Knoxville,Tennessee) to see if any birds were around. All was quiet. After about 5 minutes a loud fluttering of wings caused me to look up in time to see the blurred form of a large bird go by and alight in the pine some 15-20 feet away. The hawk perched facing me and stayed for 5-10 minutes, scanning the ground for a potential dinner before suddenly taking off again, making a quick 180 and flying out through the small thicket, so that the only decent look I had of the bird was of it perching.
I initially thought it was a red-shouldered hawk but I have some doubts. Its breast was heavily barred in the most beautiful rich shade of red. The top of the shoulders looked to be solid red. Its tail was striped. The only thing that causes me to doubt is the tail. It had more white on it than I would expect of a red-shouldered hawk. The black and white stripes appeared to be about even in width. Its tail looked more like a Cooper’s hawk though I can’t recall if it was rounded or straight at the edges. I have looked at numerous photographs of both varieties on the internet and in none of them was the barring on the breast of a Cooper’s hawk the rich shade of red as on the one I saw. The photographs in my Sibley’s, however, do show the Cooper’s hawk to be that color. Of course, my Sibley’s also contains a lot of blue gulls so I’m thinking maybe the colors in the book aren’t all that accurate as I’ve yet to see a blue gull in the wild.
Although I hadn't noticed them before, when the hawk took off, several mourning doves that had been roosting in the trees hurriedly took off in the opposite direction.
I didn’t have my camera handy, only my binoculars, so no photo unfortunately.
Any thoughts?
I initially thought it was a red-shouldered hawk but I have some doubts. Its breast was heavily barred in the most beautiful rich shade of red. The top of the shoulders looked to be solid red. Its tail was striped. The only thing that causes me to doubt is the tail. It had more white on it than I would expect of a red-shouldered hawk. The black and white stripes appeared to be about even in width. Its tail looked more like a Cooper’s hawk though I can’t recall if it was rounded or straight at the edges. I have looked at numerous photographs of both varieties on the internet and in none of them was the barring on the breast of a Cooper’s hawk the rich shade of red as on the one I saw. The photographs in my Sibley’s, however, do show the Cooper’s hawk to be that color. Of course, my Sibley’s also contains a lot of blue gulls so I’m thinking maybe the colors in the book aren’t all that accurate as I’ve yet to see a blue gull in the wild.
Although I hadn't noticed them before, when the hawk took off, several mourning doves that had been roosting in the trees hurriedly took off in the opposite direction.
I didn’t have my camera handy, only my binoculars, so no photo unfortunately.
Any thoughts?