MrSeedy
September 8th, 2005, 10:24 AM
This isn't the best picture, as this particular hawk insisted on having his back turned towards me and I couldn't get a better shot of it. At least the banding on the tail should be a good 'tool" for to ID it, and also the square end to the tail. The really surprising thing , though I couldn't get a picture of that either , was the fact there were several black squirrels in the tree , when it landed there, and they , instead of running away, insisted on harrying the hawk (no pun intended for you bird watchers). They kept approaching him or her, and the poor thing would then spead it's wings in a defensive gesture. It finally left, though I'd swear I once saw one in the back yard flying away at a rapid pace, that had a black object in it's claws , that much looked like a black squirrel. Couldnt' say for sure though , since my eyes couldn't focus that quickly to get a good view. Anyway here's a picture of it's backside and it doesn't show the characteristic rust colored banding that most of the similar varieties show on their brests. Maybe some avid bird watcher could figure out the ID just from the tail. It's a small hawk , that usually hunts birds here.