Many thanks for that foot tip. I’ll remember that. The chest pattern told me RT but all the white on the face made me think otherwise. Happy to be set straight. Between here and Montour at the moment it is thick with raptors, particularly late evening. Nice place to practice.
Liz Medes
Emmett, the east side
Hola Liz and Chuck,
Yes, Chuck is correct – I didn’t see the original photos from your yard, and assumed we were talking about the photo in the second post. But the photos of the hawk in your yard are indeed of a juvenile Red-tailed, as Chuck says.
I feel that stability has returned to the universe, as it was very disconcerting to me to disagree with Chuck on an i.d. 😉
Liz, note the difference in the feet on your photo on the fence post, and the Macauley Library photo of the Swainson’s.
Glad that’s cleared up . . .
Mark
Mark Stackhouse
from Mexico:
01-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit)
001-801-518-5618 (cellular – U.S. and Mexico)
from U.S.
011-52-323-285-1243 or
1-801-518-5618
Gracias, Mark, nice to get feedback. And thank you Chuck. Just to be clear my first photos were in my yard, the second post was from Maccauley and labeled “Swainson Hawk.”
I’m not sure if it was the Swainson or an RT this a.m. that took out the kestrel nest in our front maple. We woke up to a ton of racket, lots of kestrel alarms, and upon leaving for our walk, a hawk flew out of the maple carrying what looked like nesting material and a nestling, which he casually ate for breakfast at the top of a utility pole while the kestrels mobbed him.
Typically the kestrels nest in a box here, but they moved into the maple this spring – this would be a second clutch, and now I’m afraid it’s gone. I didn’t know hawks would raid a kestrel nest. Dang…
Liz Medes
Emmett ID
Hi Liz,
I agree that this one is a young Swainson’s. But the one in yesterday’s post was indeed a Red-tail.
Cheers,
Chuck
Always forward, never straight…
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
