Author Topic: What kind of bird of prey is this?? (Read 1263 times)

AquaShrimp · « **on:** January 07, 2008, 12:06:20 AM »

Recently, a large bird of prey has taken up residence near my house. My neighbors have a flock of guineas, which this bird has been eating. This bird of prey is pretty large, has a dark brown body with a cream colored chest. I haven't been able to get a good picture of it, I'd need a telephoto lens for my camera. I have seen it up close with my binoculars, but there weren't and spectacular markings on it. Just the brown body with cream colored chest. Any idea what it might be?

I'm about 20 miles south of Louisville KY.

Golfer · « **Reply #1 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:20:52 AM »

It's birdzilla. Call the history channel because Monster Quest wasn't able to find it.

rpm · « **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:26:06 AM »

Chicken hawk maybe. Without a pic hard to tell.

SFCHONDO · « **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:34:50 AM »

Does it look like this? peregrine-falcon

Going on discription and that it's eating birds. Which is what this bird does. Only thing is, it's mainly a northern bird i.e. Canada / Alaska, but known to come futher south during winter.

Chairboy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:41:51 AM »

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:43:29 AM »

Here are my suggestions:

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

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

rpm · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2008, 12:54:55 AM »

I still say Chicken Hawk.

Rollins · « **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2008, 01:29:16 AM »

Until I looked into it, I was unaware that more than one type of hawk was referred to as 'çhickenhawk'. interesting. Maybe he's a ...

Red-Tailed Hawk

Wolf14 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:05:25 AM »

I'd say a red tailed as well from the description.

AquaShrimp · « **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:05:42 AM »

Heres some (bad quality) pictures of the bird.

http://k4emq.home.insightbb.com/Birdtree.JPG

http://k4emq.home.insightbb.com/birdtree2.JPG

http://k4emq.home.insightbb.com/birdflying.JPG

Slash27 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:37:01 AM »

maybe??

Octavius · « **Reply #11 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:46:30 AM »

It looks pretty beefy... squared, soaring wings. The way he's perched in the first pic makes me think a vulture of some sort - but they don't kill their meals.

How close did you get? See any white on the underside of the wings?

AquaShrimp · « **Reply #12 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:54:51 AM »

The entire underside of the bird is a cream color, including the bottoms of the wings. I could see it pretty good with binoculars.

Angrist · « **Reply #13 on:** January 07, 2008, 02:58:22 AM »

The best way to describe any Raptor is to start with it's tail. That is the most distinctive part of many of them, and the way most are identified.

Also, what part of the country are you in? That helps...

AquaShrimp · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2008, 03:17:17 AM »

Didn't see its tail very well. I'm in Kentucky USA.