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| Discussion of other Raptor species; their anatomy, biology, ecology, etc. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 16 2007, 11:04 AM (18,118 Views) | |
| ostrich2 | Dec 6 2007, 06:44 PM Post #361 |
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I finally got around to downloading my last batch of photos off my camera, and when we were discussing possible wintering raptors I took some representative shots of some of the trees and terrain in High Park. I'll post a few of these in case they are of interest. For example, there are a lot of areas which are fairly open with trees - these are the kind of areas where you'd typically find a lot of squirrels (although I'm not sure during the winter). These are at the very north end of the park (and directly behind the camera is the main E-W street in Toronto, Bloor St, so there is generally a lot of human "activity" nearby: ![]() ![]() There are also some more densely wooded areas: ![]() There are also a number of areas where there are walking paths and the like: ![]() There are a variety of different size/types of trees: ![]() ![]() At the far southwestern end of the park there is a fairly large pond (I didn't get down that far that day) which is frequented by a lot of gulls, ducks and Canada geese, even in the winter. |
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| Bea | Dec 7 2007, 02:31 PM Post #362 |
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Hiya everyone! So sorry I havn't been around much lately. It's that time of the year I guess. I still have to catch up some on this thread, but I wanted you all to know that I have some terrific pictures of a hawk that has sort of become my pet (?) Just kidding, but this hawk has been coming to my front yard tree every single day (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day) for over a month now. He hangs out above my bird feeders. (Yes, he has gotten a couple of my finches that I know of.... I'm sure he's gotten more than that and that's why he comes back every day?) He/she is really beautiful, and not very afraid it seems. At first, when I would go out and stand under the tree he would immediately take off. Now, Hubby, Doggie, Kitty and me go out to watch him, and he just sits there and watches us back. Really funny! Anyways, I have tons of pictures (some really good ones too), and I will post them over the weekend. I thought maybe we can do a new ID game with this one? I think I know what kind it is and will e-mail Bill with my guess after I post the pics. Also saw a couple of American Kestrels and the Osprey last weekend, but haven't seen the pictures yet, so I don't know if they turned out. Oh, and the Barn Owl I posted a pic of before has also been coming to my backyard at least twice a week. |
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| ostrich2 | Dec 7 2007, 03:28 PM Post #363 |
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That sounds very interesting Bea - looking forward to seeing that. Did you have any luck with the other id list that Bill posted? Patti told me that apparently the answers are in the description which she unfortunately stumbled on - I have a few answers and I've been plugging away at it but I'm pretty sure at least a couple of my initial guesses are wrong.
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| ostrich2 | Dec 9 2007, 03:34 PM Post #364 |
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Naturegal, which field guide were you looking at? I found some interesting information in the Peterson field guide concerning the Florida resident RS: Florida adult: Like eastern adult but smaller and paler, with pale grey head and greyish back. It's tail has fewer (2 or 3) white bands. Does this resemble your bird? Of course, complicating matters is the fact that RS from other regions may migrate down to southern areas as well, so a particular bird might not necessarily show plumage from the Florida subspecies/race. |
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| Raptorman | Dec 9 2007, 04:00 PM Post #365 |
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| ostrich2 | Dec 9 2007, 07:09 PM Post #366 |
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I was also surprised at how calm the eaglet appeared during the sequence when they were capturing it - that certainly seemed to be quite different than a lot of raptor banding/capturing footage that we have seen. I thought perhaps it was a particular characteristic of that species/race. Otherwise I thought maybe that sequence was staged with an already captive bird to represent that situation. That might partly be a matter of practicality too, as the opportunity may not present itself easily to film some situations in a completely "natural" setting. The "team" kill of the wolf was kind of interesting because especially with goldens that are naturally very solitary hunters, and have separate hunting territories, I imagine that is a situation that might be quite rare in the wild, where two birds are attacking the same prey animal simultaneously. I got the impression that they weren't really working as a "team" though - they were just releasing more than one bird which were going after the wolf individually - there wasn't a combined strategy like there would be with Harris hawks. The two birds that made the kill seemed quite tolerant of each other as they attempted to feed from the prey, before the falconers moved in to take possession of the kill. |
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| Raptorman | Dec 9 2007, 07:50 PM Post #367 |
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| ostrich2 | Dec 10 2007, 07:25 PM Post #368 |
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Here's a site I found with some pictures taken in SF of a hawk that are kind of interesting - what I find interesting about this individual is how much light plumage it has on its body, as contrasted with the very rufous parts. I've been looking through my field guide trying to find a RT race that matches but I haven't. There is a western race which has a particularly rufous head and tail in the plates, but it also shows a mainly rufous body. I can't find a particular reason to doubt the id of a RT. I'm still thinking about it though ![]() Red-tailed hawk Returns |
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| Raptorman | Dec 10 2007, 08:38 PM Post #369 |
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| Naturegal | Dec 12 2007, 09:09 AM Post #370 |
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Ian - Peterson Field Guide- Hawks of North America. Also checked it out in Smithsonian Handbook - Birds of Florida. |
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| Patti | Dec 12 2007, 02:58 PM Post #371 |
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Saw some great Red-tail action up closer today. Sorry, we're switching the contents of a couple of rooms here and it is a MESS--plus I'm slow, so I've not been able to follow the thread as closely as I would like. Need to back up and study Bill's post in response to the documentaries. Bea, looking forward to your pictures! Where are you seeing the Osprey? Is the American Kestrel in the Heights? I saw a flock of White-throated swifts last weekend over my house. Get dizzy watching them. They really wheel around. Ostrich, I checked Netflix for A Falconer's Chronicle and they don't offer it. That was a disappointment. Forgot to check for Balapan: The Wings of the Altai. Netflix seemed to offer a lot of good documentaries at one time, but this is the second film I couldn't find there. I'm still very interested in the Ferruginous hawk and reading more on it. Bill, would it be possible to sight them south of the Central California Valley in the winter? They're quite beautiful! I don't quite understand thier migration. They get to Mexico--it mentions Baja California at times, but it's still a puzzle to me. It appears they're more common in Arizona than Southern California and would enter Mexico from there? But Baja? |
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| ostrich2 | Dec 12 2007, 03:38 PM Post #372 |
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I sighted another red-tail along the highway this morning, so despite the blast of winter we're getting now there are some still around. Interestingly, the "Birds of Prey Are Cool" song claims the Ferruginous doesn't migrate outside the US: http://www.bobnisbet.com/other/birdsofprey.pdf I'm as big as an eagle and my body's mostly white I'm identified by my three points of light I'm totally continental, I'm always at home To Mexico or Canada, I seldom roam (Ferruginous hawk) On the documentaries, A Falconer's Chronicle is likely to be fairly obscure, and I've seen it on IFC as well, which means that it's an independent Canadian film. It's quite possible an obscure independent film from Quebec has never been distributed in the US at all. It doesn't even show up on IMDB. I'm not sure about Balapan: Wings of The Altai , but considering it was also shown on a Canadian digital station, it might well be independent as well. |
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| Raptorman | Dec 12 2007, 05:24 PM Post #373 |
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| Patti | Dec 12 2007, 05:32 PM Post #374 |
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Thanks, Bill! I found a Cornell University website that one must pay to see in full, but it shows pretty good free/limited information on birds...and think that's where I read some very interesting stuff on the Ferruginous. I'm glad Ostrich brought it up--think it was him--because it is an interesting hawk and worth spending time on. I'll post the Cornell link here later in this message. Gotta do birds now. |
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| Raptorman | Dec 12 2007, 06:55 PM Post #375 |
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- I have a few answers and I've been plugging away at it but I'm pretty sure at least a couple of my initial guesses are wrong.
11:00 AM Jul 11