THIS bird was watching ME!!!

driving home, saw it in the distance, pulled over, whipped out the camera.......

right out the windshield!

Oh very cool! Nice shots!

That must have been exciting! Thanks for posting them! Pelle :-)

Great shots, it looks HUGE! I bet your heart is still in your mouth!

like a pterodactyl.....lol, really though, the biggest i've ever seen..the size of a large turkey........

Looks like an immature Red-tailed Hawk

Our largest North American Hawk-nearly a 6-foot wingspan. This is the one you hear screaming on all those SUV/ Jeep-type commercials on TV.

i'm fairly certain she's an immature Northern Goshawk, they come here to winter, i say this because she looks so much like the Coopers, which are abundant here, but she was three times the size of a Coopers, a characteristic of the goshawk (with the females larger too).........smart fellas, huh!.but i'm always up for suggestions!

This message was edited Oct 22, 2007 1:07 PM

It's definitely not a Goshawk but rather a Buteo--I think Ned's right being a Redtail. The small dark band by the wrist in the wing (seen in the flying picture) is about the only good field mark that's visable in the picture. And as a side note and expanding on Old ned's line about the Jeep commercial--whenever you hear a hawk or eagle scream in a movie or on TV it's usually a Redtail that is heard. They use it for any bird of prey.
Jimbo

I'm with Ned on Red-tailed Hawk.

Resin

cool beans, that it is~~~thanks all!


http://www.desertusa.com/aug96/du_hawk.html

typo edits!

This message was edited Oct 22, 2007 5:45 PM

This message was edited Oct 22, 2007 5:45 PM

Another bird sound thing:

If you Google Kookaburra sounds, you'll find several websites that will play the call that most Americans associate with monkeys. Hollywood has forever played the sounds of Australia's Laughing Kookaburra while showing monkeys from anywhere in the world.

Kookaburras live only in Australia (which has never had monkeys).

Ned~you are a veritable plethora of information!

Holy Cow!! Look at the size of those drumsticks!! I would have been diving for cover too. Thanks for sharing your great pictures!!