I saw this raptor two days ago when I was out on a lake about 20 miles north of St. Paul, MN, doing a vegetation survey. The trash barrel the bird is perched on is about 100 feet from the water's edge at a campground/marina. At first I thought it was one of those owl decoys people sometimes put on their docks to keep the gulls away, but a look through the binoculars confirmed it was a real live bird! I snapped this photo with the office camera, which only has about 4x optical zoom. Even so, the photo turned out good enough with some zooming and cropping.
I didn't have a field guide with me, and my first thought was Cooper's hawk. But after looking at the photo, and comparing it with Sibley's, I knew it had to be something different. The facial markings did not match those of a Cooper's, and although the size was within range this bird seemed chunkier, not very accipiter-like. For size perspective, those seams on the side of the barrel are probably 15 or 16 inches apart.
I didn't even think of looking at the broad winged hawk in the field guide; I had only seen them in flight. But when I saw the illustration in Sibley's I thought, "That's IT!"
What do you think?
By the way, the weather was just as sunny and gorgeous as it looks in the photo. It's 80 degrees today. I just put the snow shovel away last weekend. That's Minnesota in May!
5 comments:
That is one chunky hawk! Never seen anything like it - here in eastern land anyway. Great picture.
It sure looks like the broad winged that hung around Hasty last summer.
Can't ID it, but snow shovels in May! ACK!
Webb- I don't know what their range is, and I don't have a bird book handy...but I'm thinking this is one of those birds I've always seen, but never really seen.
Lynne- That's enough of a confirmation for me!
By the way, Gordy's Hi Hat in Cloquet is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year. We were there Saturday.
FC- I didn't even blog about it because I was so depressed. Two weeks ago we had a significant snowstorm that left a few inches of white stuff on the ground. Nothing but 80's in the forecast for a few days now. From one extreme to another!
It does look like a broad winged hawk. We've had a pair nesting in our area for a few years now but this is the first year I've actually seen the nest. It's quite close to our house and exciting. I haven't gone super close to the nest since I don't want to stress them. For us, we were able to make a definite identification one we heard of their cries.
Post a Comment