[PONYRCR]

Long story....

I was walking into work yesterday. I have to walk from a parking structure to my job at 20th Century Fox. I was walking down Avenue of the Stars when I spotted a Red-taild Hawk soaring low over head. The bird appeared to come from some pine trees on Olympic Blvd. I stopped dead in my tracks to watch the hawk. He glided over Avenue of the Stars for a bit then flew off in a westerly direction.

I continued on my way when another hawk appeared from the general direction of the pine trees. At first I thought it was another Red-tailed Hawk. As the bird flew over my head it was obvious this wasn't a RTH.

This hawk flew more like an accipiter and was all dark under neath. This hawk was a muddied gray color, with a longish solid dark grey tail. As it flew over it was making a kek, kek, kek, kek alarm call.

The alarm call sounded somewhat similar to what I've heard an upset Cooper's Hawk make, but this was definately not a Cooper's Hawk.

I checked my inadequate field guides that I keep at work. The closest match I could make was a Northern Goshawk. The field guide even stated that the Northern Goshawk makes a kek,kek,kek alarm call.

However Century City/West Los Angeles isn't exactly the right habitat for a Northern Goshawk. But then again I have seen a few birds at work that were far out of their normal habitat range. We once had a Great Blue Heron raiding a Koi pond/fountain, and I've even seen a Great Horned Owl on the lot.

Anybody care to venture a guess as to what hawk this might have been?

[prairiemerlin]

Northern Goshawk would be exceedingly unlikely - they are very rare in southern California, and when they do occur they are up in the mountains, not in urban areas. My best guess is Cooper's Hawk; how did you eliminate it?

Neil G.

[Microtus]

Some female Cooper's Hawks can appear suprisingly big. I know this, I've been surprised. The bigger the Accipiter, the deeper the call. Also, some Cooper's can have surprisingly short tails. So, how did you eliminate Cooper's Hawk.

[PONYRCR]

I ruled out Cooper's Hawk because I'm pretty familiar with them. I've seen a lot of them, and a few up close and personal.

The mystery hawk I saw looked nothing like a Cooper's Hawk. It was too big, and it was a solid color underneath. No barring, no zoned tail. No white that I could see. It was an overall grey, a muddied grey, kinda brownish grey.