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Discussion of other Raptor species; their anatomy, biology, ecology, etc.
Topic Started: Sep 16 2007, 11:04 AM (18,122 Views)
Raptorman
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ostrich2
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Here is another bird that we can id: a friend of mine send me a link to a site that has various bird wallpapers he thought I might be interested in, and one of the ones that they have labelled as an eagle looked like it might be a RS.

Raptor Wallpaper
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Raptorman
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Bea
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Okay, here's my attempt and guess at the picture above:
If we are to believe you Bill :lol: , and the bird is a juvenile, then I would say it might be a Juvenile White Tailed Hawk. (possibly a dark juvie?)
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Raptorman
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Bea
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Yeah, those darn pantaloons :lol: I did notice that they don't quite match. Okay, thanks Bill, back to the books. (I have the Nat. Geo Book)

Hey Patti, you have Sibleys, what does the text on the bottom of the page say with the White Tailed Hawk? :<::
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Raptorman
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ostrich2
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I have some stuff I am behind on posting about, but it has been a very hectic weekend.

I was hoping to spend more time walking around High Park today but other things intervened. However, I did drop by Hawk Hill - conditions were so-so but not great. There was some scattered cloud and some good sun which probably made for good thermals, but while the wind on the ground was coming from the NE, the clouds were moving more from the SE which wasn't quite so good.

Apparently on Friday there were over 300 birds recorded - today for the hour and a half I was there we got maybe 10-15 RTs. There was also one Cooper's, one Sharp-shinned hawk. We did get one golden eagle though! I'm getting a bit better at the id's - the Cooper's I could recognize as quite distinctive from the RTs even from a high height. The golden though would be easy for a novice to miss from just another RT without somebody pointing it out - the size of the bird and it's flapping pattern were distinctive from the RT. The shape also differs of course between the RT and the golden, but that's a bit harder to perceive from a distance. I asked whether there was any chance of it being a juvenile bald instead of a golden, but the people there said no because the bald when viewed in flight from below shows the head and neck extending much further than the golden.

I also had a nice raptor sighting on Friday on the way home - a beautiful huge hawk of some kind flew up from the grasses up onto a light pole just as I was passing by. Unfortunately I was driving on the highway, so no chance to slow down or take a closer look, but what was interesting was the coloration on the bird. It was very big, so size-wise you'd think it could only be a RT - but oddly enough the head was quite dark - it almost looked a bit like you'd imagine if a RT had the dark head coloration of a peregrine (this bird was without doubt not any kind of falcon though). That might have been for reasons which had nothing to do with the bird - it was getting towards dusk at the time so it could have just been the lighting or the shadows. It did make for an odd sight though.

I did take some pictures today (some general shots of the park as well as some from the hill - I'm not optimistic any of my attempted shows of the passing RTs will be any more successful though) but it may take until later in the week before I have a chance to download and post anything.
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ostrich2
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Bill, for the bird that I posted that I thought initially was a red-shouldered hawk, I think I may have it :D How about - an immature Harris Hawk? Here's what I can find for the Harris Hawk as far as description goes:

- wings appear slightly "paddle" shaped
- thighs are chestnut colored
- underwing shows chestnut coverts and dark grey flight feathers
- immature plumage shows underparts streaked white, finely barred gray secondary feathers, and whitish primaries with dark tips
- tail appears light gray with fine dark bands from below
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Raptorman
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ostrich2
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The Raptor Force documentary has some footage of some Harris hawks (including some people holding them on tall poles in a falconry application). They also show the Harris hawks in the formation you describe where they are standing on top of each other to increase their vantage point.

I wonder if the "paddle" shaped to the wings is some kind of adaptation that has a some type of particular advantage for the specific hunting methods of the Harris.
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Raptorman
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ostrich2
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Raptorman,Nov 19 2007
12:02 AM
Ostrich: If you could post the link to that footage from Raptor Force that would be great for folks to see. I attempted to find it but wasn't successful. Thanks


Unfortunately that documentary is not online anywhere that I know of (except for short excerpts) - I recorded the show when it was broadcast some months ago.
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Raptorman
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