Wow, beautiful hawk, Randy! That WOULD be a surprise!

Got to looking closer at the photos and there is no red tail. I don't think my identification is correct. The chest and tail feathers match photos of the Red-Shouldered Hawk.

randy

Randy, I really couldn't tell you what kind it is. I do know that it sure it pretty though. :)

Gorgeous pictures, Randy, especially that second one - I think it's a red-shouldered hawk, too.
Maybe he/she saw or heard some mice in that part of your greenhouse? Or maybe it's warmer back there than it is outside, so he/she hunkered down! :)
MissSherry

Ooh, the belly sure is pretty, too! I just love the predatory birds. We used to see tons of red-tails in the Southeast Kansas area where I grew up. Lots of wildlife there and still is. Those are the things I gave up when I moved to become an urbanite. SE Kansas, being so close to the Ozarks, is just absolutely gorgeous. I was disasppointed, though, when last I went back there to find that the old stone bridge was removed and a brand new one put in to replace it. You went around this huge bend by the river and there was the bridge, close to the center of town. Just a gorgeous view. A natural falls in the river made it especially outstanding. The river is called the Verdigris (meaning green). We had a cabin on the Falls River, very isolated, no one for miles around.

My grandfather built the cabin, also built a trailer that housed an additional bedroom. As very young children, we knew how to row a boat, fish, set trot lines and limb lines, took many trips down the river to a sand bar that we loved, and to the falls where the old millstone churned. Neodesha (name of the town) means "between two rivers".

Beautiful photo, Randy!

Susan

Caterwallin

It is a beautiful bird.

MissSherry

I found a large hole ripped in the plastic wall at ground level on the backside of the greenhouse. I guess that's how it got in. The hole looks old, so I don't think the hawk did it. I'm glad it flew out the door fairly easily without doing damage to itself or the greenhouse :-).

I'm still at a loss understanding why a large bird of prey would enter a structure for any reason. An owl I might see doing this, but not a hawk.

I've seen a bobcat a number of times around the greenhouse. I'm wondering if that's where the hole came from. My dog acted very weird a few weeks ago back there, but I was busy with something and didn't check it out.

randy

Hi Susan

That's very pretty area. Used to have some customers up that way on the Oklahoma side near the Neosho River.

randy

OMG, Randy, who was more shocked? You or the bird?

I, too, love the raptors. Partly because of their tough, fearsome appearance. Partly because they are so vulnerable to our human activities.

When I was a kid, we had a small boat and did a lot of fishing on LI sound. I remember watching the Osprey's diving for fish and being totally mesmerized.

Then DDT took it's toll.

Happily, the DDT was banned and an all out effort was undertaken to re-establish the Osprey.

Now, in the summer, nearly all the man-made nesting platforms are full of young.

And just yesterday, I saw a Rough-legged hawk patrolling a nearby marsh.

What great stories and comments. I've really enjoyed everyone's sharings.

Maryann

I felt bad for the hawk. Trying to take a photo without stressing it more was a challenge. They are a little blurry because I just stuck the camera through a slit in the plastic with one hand trying not to add to the situation. Came within a few feet a couple times as it circled.

I remember when seeing an American Bald Eagle anywhere in Oklahoma was a treat after DDT decimated the population. They've also made quite a comeback.

randy

Randy, Is this the same hawk as yours? This one was here at my place.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:453144}}

Caterwallin,

No expert on raptors. My "guess" would be an immature Coopers Hawk based on the speckled breast and head and the long equally sized banded tail.

randy

Thanks, Randy. I'm probably even less of an expert on raptors than you are. You're probably right about it being a Coopers Hawk. I think hawks are so pretty, but I don't get to see them very often. Actually, my yard birds are probably glad about that though. :)

Cathy

Cathy, my first thought was a Sharp-shinned Hawk (a Sharpie), or a Coopers Hawk.

Both species like to make meals of my birds at the feeders. One day, last fall, I was in the garden and a Hawk came screaming into the Raspberry bushes. All the sparrows that were hanging around there escaped but he sure created a scene.

One time, I saw one try to pick off a Morning Dove in mid flight, right over my head.

BTW Randy, I think your pictures are great. Considering the circumstances, I'm surprised you thought to get the camera. My butterfly friends say, that even if the picture isn't really clear, it is often still clear enough to ID the specimen.

How exciting! That is the closest I have ever seen one of those. Is it cold where you are and he wanted cover?

Penny

Maryann,

I think that both you and Randy know your hawks better than I do. I had one here one time that was smaller than this one but looked very similar. Someone told me that that one was a sharp-shinned hawk. Then there was one time when I saw one sitting on a branch out front right above where I have my bird feeders hanging. I thought, "Nothing like getting yourself in plain view, Mr. (or Mrs.) Hawk!" I don't think it caught anything and left. It was a blueish-grayish color and looked kind of spooky whereas this hawk that I guess is a Cooper's has a regal look. I see hawks here once in awhile but months can go by without me seeing one. Mostly I see them in the summer flying pretty high up in the sky and I'm not sure if they're Cooper's or what. I think we have Red-Tailed around here too, and I think my dad has mentioned Goshawks. (sp?) He even saw a bald eagle up the road a few miles years ago, but I never saw any in our area. It would be neat to see though!

I hope hte hawks don't have a lot of luck at your feeders. I know the hawks have to eat too, but I just wish they'd do it somewhere else where I don't know about it. I hope the sparrows that hang around at your place were native sparrows and not house sparrows. House sparrows and starlings don't live long if I see them here at our place. I've learned too much about birds over the years to know not to let them around because they compete with our birds and they even kill them. I never did like killing things, but they're bad news for our native birds, so I do it to help them. I love other birds except for those two kinds and feed birds year round and love to watch them. It sounds like you like that too. :) Thanks for your input about the hawk. Oh, and I bet that one trying to get the dove so close to do took you by surprise...whew!

Cathy

I'll have to have my hubby take a peek. He raised hawks... :) They were one of his fave pets! Gorgeous, BTW... thanks for sharing!

Hi Penny

It's been cold here, but I'm not sure of the reasons why it ended up in the greenhouse. MissSherry's idea of seeing or chasing a rodent makes more sense than anything.

Cathy

We have a great variety of birds here and love having them. Even have pair of Great Horned Owls that nest in a very large cottonwood on the property. They are hard to get digital pics of, but I have some video of them.

Tdogmom

That would be a very interesting pet :-).

randy

Cathy, I actually know very little about hawk IDing. I'm trying to learn, but there are so many bird species with so many forms
and colorations, I get confused. A friend wants me to join her bird club and I think I will.

We have soooo many house sparrows here that the hawks are welcomed to them all. Starlings too. And the Grackles are a pain because they empty the feeders so quickly.

I did feel bad when I saw Cardinal feathers scattered about one day. I think it was a hawk, but could have been a cat that got it.

Randy, It sounds like you get to enjoy a lot of birds too. I've been meaning to make up a list of the ones I get here, but I still haven't done it. I know there are pretty many. We live next to a woods and are not far from the mountain, and I guess that's what the hawks and owls like. I always hear screech owls and GHO's in the woods, but I've never gone looking for any of the nests. That's really neat that you know where the owls nest at your place. There aren't any cottonwoods here but thousands (more like millions) of others. I've never gotten any pictures of the owls. One evening one flew by not too many feet above my head (like maybe 20 at the most) and I didn't even hear it. I guess it was on its way to get its next meal.

Maryann, You seem to me to know pretty much, so if you say you know little, then I guess that gives you a clue how much I know! lol I can identify pretty many birds, but I just haven't gotten a handle on hawks yet. One bird I would love to see is a red-headed woodpecker (never saw one in my life). We have other types here, one of which is the Pileated. It likes to go to the white pine tree in our yard that is slowly dying. I don't have it cut because of that. We also have a bird tree that's seen its better days, but birds nest and roost in the holes in it, so I don't have that one cut either.
That would be nice for you to join a local bird club if you have the time. I'm not a member of any local bird club but go on songbirdsfamily.com It's one of those My Family sites where you email them your name and email and they give you a password to get on the site. You can post pictures right on the site and don't have to use photbbucket or anything like that. That's why I didn't know how to post pictures on this butterfly site at first because I never had to do that before, but now I learned that in addition to learn so many things about butterflies.

I hope those hawks at your place get the house sparrows and starlings and leave the native birds alone. There are so many starlings around here and only a couple hawks once in awhile that I count on my traps and air rifle to get rid of them here. At first when I heard of other people doing that, I thought it was mean until I heard stories and saw pictures of what they do to our native birds. A lot of birding groups are encouraging people to destroy the house sparrows are starlings. Like you, I'm not fond of the grackles either for the reason you mentioned, but being that they're a native species, I just have to let them alone and grumble as I have to go out yet again to fill the feeders.

Yes, I think you're right about that and it could have been either a hawk or a cat that got your cardinal.

I've learned a lot about birds on other forums and enjoy them a lot, and one of my friends on there would talk about butterflies sometimes and I thought to myself, "Now that's something else that sounds interesting and I ought to look into it!" That's why I came here. Now I have more nice people to "talk" to. :) I'm sure I couldn't have learned so much about butterflies anywhere else either.

Lots of birds like the white pines, don't they? My house wrens (love em), the cardinals, the Mockingbirds, and the darned grackles (I wish they would go somewhere else). The grackles are just so noisy, and they intimidate the other smaller birds. I think the wrens I have are the same family, and they are funny to watch - they play and flirt all the time.

The cardinals mate for life and also establish a home and stay there. I've had the same pair since I moved in 8 years ago, or their progeny. We have the large woodpeckers. I did see a downy once on the wood frame to one of my garden beds, and a barn swallow (soooo cute!). I've been so intent on butterfly gardening, I haven't really paid much attention to the birds lately. I do try to plant things they will provide them with food, like beautyberry, porceline vine, Virginia Creeper, coneflowers, sunflowers, etc.

Susan

Susan, Yes, the white pines do seem to be pretty popular. The thing I don't like about them is that they get ugly when they get older and get so tall. I sort of wish in a way that we could have ours cut because it's only about 40 feet away from the house and if a really strong wind knocks a big piece of it off and it heads in an easterly direction, our house isn't going to look too pretty.

It's so nice to know that you and others on here also like birds! I like to watch their antics too. I could tell so many bird stories, but I'll just tell you about one. We have some Carolina wrens that find their way in on our back porch (they creep under our screen door) and eat the chicken that we put out there for our two cats whenever we have a little bit left over (it's mostly the stuff that sticks to the bones). Thank goodness they have the sense to stay outside when the cats are on the porch.

I have some bushes here too that the birds like to eat. They really like the cranberries and arrowwood viburnum! I'd like to also find a Beauty Berry bush someday, a.k.a. French Mulberry. I've seen pictures of it and think it's soooo beautiful! Someone also told me one time that the bluebirds at her place just loved the berries. I'm no longer in touch with her or I think I'd try to make a trade with her. The goldfinches love the 8 coneflower plants that I have in the garden. If only we had a rototiller, I'd plant even more for the butterflies and birds, but it's just so much to take care of. I love going outside in the spring and summer...I could almost live out there. I bet you like it too. :)