Manlius (east of Syracuse) NY near creek on top of highest tree -2 high 4 decent pic (1 Viewer)

[whatdouthink]

Hello. At 7:30 am looked up and spotted what had to be a huge bird. It was too high to get a good pic with my iphone-too pixel-y. Except for the fact it was so high off the ground, it looked almost like a penguin watching everyone-seemed like it had a round white belly and coloring of a penguin. Seemed to be staring down at me. But turns out he was in direct shot of a rabbit that was alive last night but dead and half eaten this morning.

I went inside for a minute and when I came out it was gone so I could not get a better pic. We have plenty of Turkey vultures around; red tailed hawks, peregrine falcons-but this seemed bigger some how and it seemed like it as standing straight up like a penguin but I couldn't see it well so that might be an illusion. Last night there were some large black crew like things on the roof of the house. When that big bird was in the tree there were no other birds in sight.

So what do you think it could have been? Do you think it killed the rabbit or did it just come to eat after it was dead. The rabbit wasn't huge but it was not a baby either. I will post pics of the bird and the rabbit but, as mentioned, the pics are not good. (Does anyone know why it is so difficult to post pic on this site? It rejects mine as too large-so I will try to make smaller but never have this issue on other sites-can't tell why-incompatibility with a mac?)-5th try!
Really-so it took the 2nd pic but it over rode the other???? That's it for me. When I finally got the sizing to be acceptable the new pic overrode the other.Then when I tried yet again, I got an error message telling me the post was a duplicate. I never have had problems with other sites. this is unfortunate because I know there are knowledgable people on this site. Unfortunately the site is not compatible with my computer.

 

[Nutcracker]

Best thing to do is hide yourself and wait for the mystery bird to come down to reclaim its prey; then try to get some pics. You just have to hope it comes down first before the scavengers get it all!

 

[whatdouthink]

Best thing to do is hide yourself and wait for the mystery bird to come down to reclaim its prey; then try to get some pics. You just have to hope it comes down first before the scavengers get it all!

I wish I had done that. I went inside for a second and when I came out and the bird was gone but the remains of the rabbit was still there. I waited a while and looked all over to see if I could find the bird. It was nowhere. And there were no other birds either. Eventually I went inside again for another second, came out and there was no sign a rabbit had ever existed.

Thanks for your suggestion tho. Next time I'll stick around.