Can someone please help me find out what this raptor is?

[redhen]

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yeah..these do tend to glide more than flap..

 

[CTChickenMom]

I don't think a lone hawk is much competition for a bunch of crows. 3 hawks together are a bit more to handle. We have lots of vultures, crows and hawks here too and I've never seen crows chasing vultures. I've seen starlings chasing crows. An adult vulture is going to be taller than a juvenile eagle and they seem less intimated by people. I had a vulture land on a 4x4 post that holds up my cloths line 50 feet from my house and just glared at me looking out the back door. The shadow it cast over my house was enormous! They won't go after live prey though. They like their prey well done not rare.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
then good god, i dont know what we have here!

i have to get more pics! its supposed to be nice tomorrow...i'll be out there...

i honestly think i have 2 things here...thats gotta be what it is!..and then remember we still have the one my neighbor called an osprey... and he said it was huge also....the one that came down while he was in his yard and took a bunny..and he would have def. seen the vulture head....so..now i'm going to google osprey...

 

[redhen]

nah..it aint an Osprey..they are more white... ooh well... i'll just have to keep trying to get better pics!

i am starting to think i have a Juvie Bald or Golden here AND those turkey vultures.. because the red tail hawk is just to small for the size birds we are seeing... thanks everyone for all the help!

and i will keep trying to get better pics!

 

[maplesky7]

Yeah... I think I saw a turkey vulture driving home the other day snackin on some carrion but when I stopped when I got close enough it flew away...soaring and it was huge.

But I was at enough distance that I didn't get to see it's head and then every time it thought about going back to the road kill....a lone car would come and so it never landed and i lost my patience...

But just like you said...it just seemed to big to be a hawk...i mean...really big.


me,
g

 

[lleighmay]

It's not an osprey- they are marked with white, fly with their wings on an angle to the rear, hover over water like a helicopter, and eat fish which they dive into the water and catch. To me it looked like a vulture but that's what I'm used to seeing- it's too big for anything else around here. Turkey vultures generally eat carrion only (they're the ones with the red heads); black vultures (with black heads, go figure) are more predatory and will even attack newborn calves and pick their eyes out etc.

 

[goobhen]

In my case, maybe the Red-Tail Hawks just grew a lot since last summer. FYI we do not have crows in our area..... When these 3 birds fly around, all the other birds go into our trees. Everyone have a nice evening! Theresa

 

[Chris413]

turkey vulture

 

[K-12 Chickens]

When you see the large bird fly over, does it seem to teeter side to side like its unbalanced? It's a good charactarisic in identifying Turkey Vultures. From the photos on the first page, you can see a bump on the wings like a shoulder or wrist, which Turkey Vultures tend to have also. Hawk wings tend to be a lot smaller and rounder, and when they soar, their tail becomes a wedge-like shape. Eagle wings tend to be almost perfectly straight when flying (soaring) and seem large for the size of the bird. Hope this helps!

By the way, I think Turkey Vultures are just as beautiful as a hawk or eagle.

 

[zazouse]

Looks like a turkey vulture to me.

Agreed i see them all the time