Pat Kiewicz wrote:
songbird said:
Pat Kiewicz wrote:

it visited again today and wandered the same
areas and did about the same thing. i have a
few very nice pictures and perhaps a movie too.
gotta get them off the camera and see how they
look on a better screen.


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.

ah, yes, that makes sense. just strikes
me as funny as all get out. like, "Take that!"


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.

this bird has a definitive white rump (underneath)
i don't see any other markings when it flips it's
butt up to poo.

does the red tail have other markings on the butt
from underneath?


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.

that is where this bird stands out as a red
tail as it does climb up on perches, sits there
a while and listens and watches then it might
pounce. but it also does this walk across the
ground, it will sit and listen and watch and
then chase things, it's very funny as the bird
is about as graceful as a bull in a china shop.


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.

yes, we have hawks on the wing and can often hear
them calling throughout the season. we also have
the large turkey vultures soaring about. very fun
to watch them when they swarm and circle.


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

thanks, i'm checking them out to see if i can
really place this bird as one or the other.


songbird