Bird ID

[fflutterffly]

On a recent trip to the Owens I got this shots plus video of this 'hawk?' and it's kill. I was about 5 feet from this bird. It was very tall about 3', which I thought was large for a hawk. I has a striking blue beak area. It might be a Red Tail Hawk, which are plentiful in the area.

[duckdog]

Looks like it may be an immature Bald Eagle or an immature Golden Eagle . The light blotches on the wings make me think it's a young-un , Red tails don't get much bigger than 22-23 in. tall. Me thinks it's a Baldy. What does your little friend have there , I think I see 2 duck feet there but the pic. is a little fuzzy.

[Wildman]

Nice picture....they are not too shy sometimes when stooping on a kill. Our last trip to the Owens Valley saw a Sharp Shinned Hawk make a power dive under a roadway bridge and right past us as we fished. The smaller hawks are like A-10 Warthogs in their ability to jink and swerve through the trees after a bird. They regularly take Quail here at the ranch.

[briansII]

Considering the size you stated, it looks like a juvenile Bald Eagle to me.

briansII

[meb]

I was fishing the Owens years ago, and I watched a young eagle grab a brown trout and fly to the top of an old dead tree to eat it. The bird was having problems balancing on one foot while trying to peck at the trout locked in the talons of its other foot. While I was watching the bird dropped the fish. I walked over thinking maybe I'd throw the fish back in the water to see if the eagle would grab it, and when I got to the base of the tree there were half a dozen dead brown trout each with talon marks and one or two beak marks. The young eagle appeared to have a slow learning curve.

Mark

[fshflys]

Great story Mark. I remember having my wife drive me to the Provo from Park City, going by directions given to me by the guy @ the fly shop. We pulled into a parking lot wondering if we were in the right place when an Osprey flew by with a trout in it's talons. Must be the place!

[fly addict]

Because Thanksgiving is coming up, I’m thinking turkey!!!

Mark

[mike.s]

Its a Harris's' hawk....there are a few of them in the Owens valley.

[mike.s]

Its a Harris's hawk...there are a few of them in the Owens valley.

[Fishfreak911]

I'm a bit of an ornithology nut specializing in birds of prey. Can't get enough of them. Let me tell you Ariel, this is one * cool experience, and you caught it on film! NICE! Thank you for posting it.

Sorry gents, but this is definitely not a Harris hawk nor an eagle of any type.

I concluded this after reviewing your video over and over. To first counter the eagle ID, the size doesn't appear to be 3 feet judging against his prey and surrounding brush. He actually looks to me to be smaller (22-26" range) which, standing atop a duck, would indeed put him nearly 3 feet off the ground. An eagle would be 30-37" long w/o a duck under him.
Secondly, lets address the beak. His beak colors are in line with what I have seen and read about red-tails. But the dead giveaway is that an eagle's beak has a much larger profile vs. the head proportionately. Again, your video shows a proportion very much in line with a RTH and not an eagle as seen here.

An immature bald eagle


Your Raptor


Note the eye color as well. A harris hawk has dark brown Irises like this.


Note the color of the Harris which is quite distinctive as opposed to a RTH which is highly varied.


Red-tails as fledglings have pale yellow or straw colored eyes which turn darker brown when they mature.



To me, this is a juvenile red tailed hawk. My guess is he is probably happier to have a meal than he was scared of you! Congrats. I loved the video!

[fflutterffly]

Well I thank you all. RTH or Eagle I had a great find. This trip included a great casual walk by of a fox in front of the car and several deer that day.

[briansII]

[quote="Fishfreak911"
To me, this is a juvenile red tailed hawk. My guess is he is probably happier to have a meal than he was scared of you! Congrats. I loved the video![/quote]

Great call. Thank you for the info!

As much time on the water as we spend, I'm sure many of us have raptor sightings. It wasn't that long ago I was just blown away when I saw a Bald Eagle. Now, it's relatively common to see them. Still relatively rare to see is an Osprey, but I do see some every year. I saw TWO, what I believe to be Falcon/Kestrels last weekend, but I could not ID either of them. Also had an owl fly overhead just before sunrise.

briansII

[tyflier]

It's a juvenile Red Tail. I'm positive of this. Notice the banding on the tail, and how close it is in size to the duck it is sitting on.

A juvie Bald Eagle would be twice that size, and have a yellow sere above a dark beak. A Harris Hawk would not have any mottling on the backside of the body, it would be a solid brown coloration. Any of the other local hawk species would be smaller in stature than this hawk, except for the Red Shouldered hawk or the Swainson's hawk., The Red Shoulder would have MUCH more mottling and bright reddish-brown patches on the shoulders. The Swainson's would have much LESS mottling, and distinctly white facial features.

It's not a super clear shot, but I'd put a fair amount of money on that being a juvenile RTH...

A close up of a juvie RTH I worked with last summer...

Juvenile Red Tail Hawk by Eastern Sierra, on Flickr

[fflutterffly]

One thing I notice in most of your explanation is the lack of mention regarding how blue the beak area was. I'm trying to get the other still photos from my friend, which will detail the bird better. You guys are great!

[Fishfreak911]

Ariel, if you Google Red Tailed hawk, you will see plenty of this blue hue on many birds. After some research, it seems this is a common trait of 1st year RTHs. Juvenile mortality rates for raptors are pretty high. So, like I said b4, I really think he was happier to have a meal than he was scared of you!