Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Another Painted Hen

Years ago my dear Maleficent made contact with something I was painting and had white paint on her side until she molted. You can see it here on her back.

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So I am surprised that none of you noticed when it happened again. Anyone take a close look at Lady Featherington's comb in today's mug shot?

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Someone got a little too close to the porch when it was being painted yesterday. Silly girl.

Ooo hey she is a Painted Lady

 

[Ponypoor]

Two for Tuesday

How about a mother daughter duo wanting to lay an egg

 

[rural mouse]

Hawk?

This is a not very interesting video from the coop cam of Bernie having breakfast. Is the sound you can hear on the video a hawk calling?
The Princesses are safely in the Chicken Palace but if that is a hawk it is very nearby!
Maybe it isn’t a hawk - not raspy and drawn out enough?

Based upon the sound, it's either a swainson's hawk or a rough legged hawk. Swainson's is a higher pitch than the rough. Both "fall away" in the call. However the swainson's isn't usually found east of the Mississippi so, have to say Rough-legged Hawk.

Edit: food source is usually small rodents like lemmings, voles, mice, and ground squirrels. Has also been known to eat frogs, insects, small birds, and carrion.

Name comes from having feathered legs. Only the feet are not feathered.

(Courtesy of Audubon bird app)

 

[RoyalChick]

Based upon the sound, it's either a swainson's hawk or a rough legged hawk. Swainson's is a higher pitch than the rough. Both "fall away" in the call. However the swainson's isn't usually found east of the Mississippi so, have to say Rough-legged Hawk.

Oh crap. I was hoping you were going to say it isn’t a hawk at all.
I haven’t seen many hawks recently since the crows came back.

 

[rural mouse]

Oh crap. I was hoping you were going to say it isn’t a hawk at all.
I haven’t seen many hawks recently since the crows came back.

Just edited the post for diet info. Even before went to look up sound, knew it was hawk. Checked falcons just in case, but the fall away is pretty characteristic of the accipitors. Fwi, the call heard in TV programs for the bald eagle is actually a red-tailed hawk. The bald eagle call is a weird high pitched screech.

 

[rural mouse]

Oh crap. I was hoping you were going to say it isn’t a hawk at all.
I haven’t seen many hawks recently since the crows came back.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/rough-legged-hawk

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Hawk?

This is a not very interesting video from the coop cam of Bernie having breakfast. Is the sound you can hear on the video a hawk calling?
The Princesses are safely in the Chicken Palace but if that is a hawk it is very nearby!
Maybe it isn’t a hawk - not raspy and drawn out enough?

Maybe. My first impression is actually a sapsucker. Yellow-belly sapsuckers are what we have around here. Here's a link, check out the call (not the tapping recording). They mention how it sounds like a small red-shouldered hawk https://abcbirds.org/bird/yellow-bellied-sapsucker/

 

[rural mouse]

Just edited the post for diet info. Even before went to look up sound, knew it was hawk. Checked falcons just in case, but the fall away is pretty characteristic of the accipitors. Fwi, the call heard in TV programs for the bald eagle is actually a red-tailed hawk. The bald eagle call is a weird high pitched screech.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/bald-eagle


Eagle comment tax

 

[RoyalChick]

Maybe. My first impression is actually a sapsucker. Yellow-belly sapsuckers are what we have around here. Here's a link, check out the call (not the tapping recording). They mention how it sounds like a small red-shouldered hawk https://abcbirds.org/bird/yellow-bellied-sapsucker/

I definitely have those in the tree over the Chicken Palace, and the Princesses weren't alarmed which they were when they heard the Red Tailed Hawk that looked like it was going to move in.
But I know the nearby reserve does have Rough Legged Hawks so @rural mouse may well be right. I may have to park myself outside with binoculars a bit later.

 

[rural mouse]

I definitely have those in the tree over the Chicken Palace, and the Princesses weren't alarmed which they were when they heard the Red Tailed Hawk that looked like it was going to move in.
But I know the nearby reserve does have Rough Legged Hawks so @rural mouse may well be right. I may have to park myself outside with binoculars a bit later.

The good bit, if it is the Rough-legged, is that they rarely eat living creatures as large as chickens. Your ongoing mice battle could get a nice boost from it.