OT- unusual bird of prey

W/E of 5/18 at the hayfield, I saw a bird of prey I couldn"t identify. Its about the size of a red-tailed hawk, but the wings are a bit longer and slimmer. Its gray with black tips on its wings. James saw the bird this w/e. Any ideas?

Have you 'googled' it? Kite, maybe; they used to follow my hay equipment.....baler.... especially, on one farm snatching insects from the air. Never saw them except then.

Sounds like a 'kite'. Did it 'hover' while flapping into the wind?

Coopers hawk?


Gene


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coopers_Hawk


Gene

Just the other day I saw two redtails being chased through the sky by some very small birds...it was a pretty funny sight.

Sounds like a Kite. A chicken hawk will have a round (convex) tail while flying and a Kite will be kinda v shaped. They are pretty social. I saw one today (Germany) w/ an almost 6 ft wingspan. Not much to them though.


Dave

Mississippi Kite

<a href="http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/thurlow8/?action=view&current=ms20kite20dudleyville20may202007200.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

Bet it was a peraquin? I have a pair here at the house for the last 2 years . They nest right out side my door. I am just east of Gainesville. Saw them mating last week and they are working on their nest as we speak.

I've seen something similar here, not sure if it's as big as a red tail, and it's really hard to judge sometimes because there is many species in and around our 98 something acres, that has a lot of overgrown areas,lots of rabbits, field mice and voles, + all the birds, lot of food for these hawks.

The ones I have seen, do hover in the wind and flap, they also dive bomb. They literally stop at nothing to get prey, and I mean absolutely nothing, I've seen them go straight into dense shrubs next to the house and rustle around in there, come out and buzz your head. They fly into the large pine trees at the neighbors, they dart in and out of the young woods that have taken over around the yard, sometimes one will be perched right in a tree outside the door, never know what you'll get. I've seen doves fly into the window after a miss, I've seen them rob young from nests and grab starlings feeding in the grass, fascinating, and theres a whole line up of these some as small as pigeon. Some have bright yellow legs/talons, fun to watch while deer hunting.

I found the runt of a small group of young pigeon hawks and raised it, we had it him the family room in a large custom built cage for many years, the butcher across the road was a good source of food, one smart bird, never could fly that well for some reason, mean at first, but was very friendly later, was a good experience growing up, often thought about falconry, my cousin does it near palm springs CA. Was not legal, but at least he had a home.

Most likely a Marlin or a Swansons hawk. Highly doubt it is a kite, they are pretty rare and not as big as a Red-Tailed.

Thurlow, I believe that"s the bird. One thing we noticed in particular was the wings were more slender than a red-tailed hawk. Thanks!

We have a very large red-tail we named Rex because of his size. The crows get after him occasionally until he's had enough and goes after them. It gets real interesting then - crows are literally running for their lives.

learning from humans.. the second bang is the front door.