songbird said:


Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I don't think that's a harrier. Going by the 'belly band'
it's more likely a juvenile red tail hawk.

when a Red-Tail hawk poops does it flip it's
butt up?

Lots of birds do that, especially young ones. Aiming the
poop away from the nest/roost.

Harrier's have a 'facial disc' something like an owl has;
they use sound as well a sight while hunting, usually
over marshland or open fields, staying barely above the
grass tops.

when we first saw it from a distance we
thought it was an owl, when it looked right
at you it had the look of an owl, then we
got a closer look at it and it had to be a
hawk.

the reason i'm guessing it is a Harrier is
that the picture in the guide i'm using
(Audubon North American Birds) shows the Red-
Tailed hawk as having pale yellow legs with
fuzz coming down further (no picture of the
feet). the Harrier picture shows yellow feet
and legs and the fuzz not quite as far down.
But i will also admit i'm not an expert in
bird ID...

Appearence can be affected by the bird's posture.
Though aharrier has longer legs in proportion to
body size than a buteo like the red tail, when a red tail
'stands at attention' it will show more leg thanwhen in
a relaxed posture.

The key field mark for a harrier (in addition to
shape, flight pattern, and behavior) is a prominent
white rump which it shows in all plumages. The
wings and tail are also longer and more slender
than the much more common buteo hawks.

Red tails are rather variable in plumage; the ones in
Michigan tend to be light phase (and some can be
quite pale). The red tail only occurs in adults, but
in some sub-species, even adults don't have the
classic rust-red tail.

Red tails tend to hunt from perches. Harriers almost
exclusively hunt on the wing.

Grasshoppers are on lots of menus (including human).
Many species of raptors will dine on grasshoppers some
ofthe time. (Swainson's hawks dine almost exclusively on
grasshoppers on their winter range in South America.)

it surprised me. i thought they were
entirely carnivore and possibly scavengers
if needed in the winter.

It's a lot of fun to watch a kestrel hunting (they do a lot
of hovering). Despite the fact that they were once referred
to as sparrow hawks, they mostly eat grasshoppers and
small rodents.

Since I'm a supporter of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
I should recommend their web site:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Don't miss the link to earch their bird guide (with sounds):
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored