Looks more like a young Red-tailed Hawk to me, the tail doesn't look proportionally long enough for an accipiter and the white spotting on the back in common among 1st year Red-tails. Will Raup Albany, NY
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [nysbirds-l] Brooklyn hawks and accipiter ID question > Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:22:18 -0500 > > Today Heydi Lopes and I birded some of Brooklyn's coast. We had > intended on focusing our efforts on gulls and waterfowl. By the end of > the day, however, it had turned into more of a raptor-fest. We > finished our day with 8 species of raptor and a question mark next to > a possible ninth. > > The bird that began the "fest" and the one in question was spotted > while we were walking east along Coney Island Creek. It was flying > across Coney Island Creek from Dreier-Offerman Park towards Kaiser > Park where it perched in a tree near the Northwest corner of the > soccer fields. My initial impression when it flew in front of us was > of a large buteo. Once it perched in the tree its long tail made it > clear that it was an accipiter. Several crows tried to scare it off, > which didn't work, and they quickly left. The hawk seemed larger than > the crows and almost the size of a red-tail. When we got close it > appeared that the bird was checking out a previously killed (and > partially eaten) Brant below. Walking around to the front of the bird > for a better look, my thought was that it was an extremely large > juvenile Cooper's Hawk, but there were some odd characteristics about > this individual. Compared to its very robust body, it appeared to have > a very small head. In addition, the face appeared to have almost > facial disks, like a harrier. The ground color of the underside was > not white, but an off white turning tawny on the breast and upper- > breast. It had considerable spotting on its back in an almost > checkerboard pattern. Most of the spots were tinged with tawny, > especially up around the shoulders. The tail was odd in that it seemed > to be missing a feather or two (not helpful). The tail banding was > very wavy. From the top side they actually seemed to be arc shaped. > Anyway, you probably see where I'm going here, but I have little > experience separating juvenile NOGO from COHA and would appreciate any > feedback. I've posted some digiscoped photos here: > > http://tinyurl.com/6kuvamp > > Heydi also took a bunch of photos and I'll give a link when she has > them up. > > Oh yeah, the other raptors today were: > > Northern Harrier > Cooper's Hawk > Red-shouldered Hawk > Red-tailed Hawk > Rough-legged Hawk (dark morph, over White Island at Marine Park > Saltmarsh) > American Kestrel > Merlin > Peregrine Falcon > > Good birding, > > Rob > > The City Birder Weblog > http://citybirder.blogspot.com > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
