A hawk flew into my neighborhood

A hawk flew into my neighborhood

Pretty certain it’s a hawk, not a falcon. I’m not sure what kind of hawk though. He just stared at me from high in the tree. First time I’ve ever seen one this close.

References:

Wonder
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge
Lens-Artists is a new weekly Photo Challenge posted on Saturdays.  This week’s word is “wonder” so anything photograph that you feel captures “wonder”  Each week has a different moderator.  More info here.

canicular, splash, feathered, marine, or scenic
THURSDAY’S SPECIAL: PICK A WORD IN JULY – Y3
note: I chose “feathered”

 

From Amazon:


The Raptors of Arizona brings together the knowledge and insights of 29 raptor and wildlife authorities who provide original information and syntheses on Arizona’s 42 raptor species, with an emphasis on aspects of their natural history in Arizona.

American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Arizona. Color photographs guides novice and experienced birders to identify birds.

Jim Burns’ Arizona Birds: From the Backyard to the Backwoods. “A lively portrayal of the habits and habitats of seventy-five of these unique southwestern species.”

Amazon disclosure: “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”

43 Replies to “A hawk flew into my neighborhood”

      1. So, my second thought was a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and I think that is a possiblity. I’m adding a link here that is a site Cornell University does that I find helpful for bird identification in the US. The link I’m leaving should be specific to the Sharp-shinned Hawk, including info on its size, which since there are several hawks that look similar, sometimes size is a good way to include or exclude: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sharp-shinned_Hawk/id
        Cheers!

        1. Thanks Amy. It came though with the link (since I moderate all comments, I allow links including youtube so I’ve even had videos in comments.) Thanks for doing the extra research. Looks like they do migrate to Arizona and even further south when nonbreeding. I wonder when nonbreeding season is. It’s likely too hot for them right now as they are northern forest birds. It was fun reading the information on the link you sent me. Thank you.

            1. No, you weren’t. You found a great site and one bird led to the next bird and to the next bird. We are very dependent on one pic though so comparing my one pic to their one pic, it’s hard to be sure.

          1. Ok, more research took me to the tucson audobon society. They said Cooper Hawks are common in Tucson. It doesn’t look like the Cooper Hawk on the Cornell site because that one had a lot of white in it’s chest but it does look like the one on the Tucson audobon site as their’s had a lot of red.
            Cornell site: red-shoulder hawk
            red-shoulder hawk
            https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/overview
            Cornell site: cooper hawk
            cooper hawk
            https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/overview
            Tuc audobon site: cooper hawk
            cooper hawk
            http://tucsonaudubon.org/go-birding/get-started-with-birding/tucson-meet-your-birds/

          2. See, that is the issue with thinking it might be the Red-shouldered Hawk, that it might be out of their range. Or, at least that was my thought when I was thinking it was possible that it might be. If there is a local birder or birding site, I might ask if they have been spotted in your area.

            1. Birds can have different areas. While the red-shouldered hawk usually goes no further than Texas. There is one small group that only lives in Southern California. Although it’s probably the Cooper Hawk, if it was hte REd-shouldered hawk, I bet it came over from California.

  1. As a gifted ornithologist who has studied birds for many years, I declare this raptor to be a red-tailed hawk also known as the ‘chickenhawk’ though they rarely consume chickens. Actually I have not studied ornithology (my cats have however) but I do know where to find the Google and…Red-Tailed Hawk.

    1. Thank you Winter. I didn’t know that “chickenhawk” was the red-tailed hawk. Chickenhawks have popped up in novels that I’ve read.

  2. You got great pics of that raptor. I think it is a kite, too…steroids are a whole different blog post! LOL

    1. Thank you for the lovely compliment on the raptor photo. Laughing, I agree on the steroid canaries — that would make an awesome post — I can just see a muscled up Tweety chasing Sylvester!

  3. My friend was riding a bike in a baseball cap with an auburn ponytail and I hawk swooped down and tried to lift her off the bike! Guess he thought she was a squirrel. She needed stitches from its talons! Your hawk/kite/falcon is beautiful

    1. Wow! That was a bold hawk. His eyes were definitely bigger than his stomach. I’m sorry your friend got hurt. I’m glad the hawk I saw stayed up in the tree. Thank you for the lovely comment on the photo.

    1. That’s interesting that both Hawk and Falcon are called Valk. It makes me think of Valkyries. Some write that Freya, the norse goddess, is chief of the Valkyries. Some say Freya has a falcon cloak and some say a hawk cloak. “valk” is a cool word.

      canaries on steroids! laughing.

  4. Lucky you to see it so close and to have the chance of photographing it! I am no expert, but think you might be right about a hawk. One of nature’s wonders. I once rescued a kite in the forest, but unfortunately the forest man I left it with, phoned me after 5 days and told me he could not save it. If these birds cannot fly properly they will starve to death.

    1. Oh, I’m sorry the kite you found did not survive. Are there many kites around where you live? I do feel lucky to be able to photograph it. Most times birds fly away to quick for me to get my camera out.

      1. I agree they are fast…I seldom get good shots because of the time and persistence needed. We have a good number of kites – in fact they are the most common birds of prey where I live. One of them is sailing above our house every day. Having a new puppy, we do not dare leaving him alone outdoors.

        1. oh wow, I didn’t know birds would go after cats and dogs. I have cats and one likes to go outside. I’ll have to keep an eye out to see if the hawk comes back.

            1. Oh, good my cat is full grown. Although I have to keep an eye out because sometimes coyotes are in the area. A friend of mine actually has a mountain lion come into their neighborhood. I’d love to get a picture of that — but not tooo close.

    1. oh, I hadn’t even thought of a kite. I’d only read of them in books. Apparently three kinds of kites have been spotted in Arizona: Mississippi Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, White-tailed Kite

    1. hmmm, what kind of small critters? I don’t like mice and rats much but squirrels are cute. Thinks about, we don’t have squirrels around here though and the prairie dogs moved on when Pinkie moved into the neighborhood. I don’t the hawk will hand out here long come to think of it. I think the small critters have already been cleaned out.

    1. Yeah, that’s what Midnight said. He watches Tom & Jerry sometimes so he knows canaries. He wanted to know what it was too.

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