On the morning of August 13, we had an unexpected visitor to our part of Waban. This creature was sitting, looking toward the pond behind our house, turning occasionally to peer right and left. From our kitchen window we could estimate size by the fact that it was perched on the top of the back of one of our chairs that we had used to get a little sun the day before. We think that it was about 20-22 inches from top of head to bottom of tail.
For about 15 minutes it just stayed there, long enough for me to get a few pretty good pictures of its back. When I pinched wide to enlarge the Smartphone images, I could see a beautiful diamond pattern on its back and wings and a white spot atop it head. Traffic on the road nearby didn’t seem to faze it. Then, it took off in a very low and slow flight (two to three feet off the ground) toward the fence between my backyard and the road, about twenty-five feet away, landing on the grass and moving out of my line of sight. Its wingspan, while impressive at about four to five feet across, didn’t measure up to the far more imposing gracefully flapping wingspans on the great blue herons that frequently fish in the pond behind our house.
I’ve Googled the images and downloaded a few apps that suggest that it might be a red-tailed hawk (whose feathers have not yet turned red) or possibly a juvenile bald eagle. I could never see its chest, so cannot report feather color there.
Since ornithology is not my strong suit, I turn to my better-informed friends and neighbors to help identify this traveler.
This same hawk visited us in Auburndale on August 19th. I first saw it standing on the grass in our backyard, then it flew onto our neighbor’s fence. Then we saw it perched on a tree and from then it flew to our other neighbor’s roof. An exciting few minutes.
A hawk family lives in a tall pine tree next door to us in Auburndale. I love hearing them call to each other all day, and occasionally seeing them fly rings around the houses.
Interesting. My son photographed a hawk perched on our fence post on (Newton Centre) early Wednesday morning. I’ll have to compare images.
Please direct it to Newton Center, where the rabbits and chipmunks have been devastating our garden. S/he’ll find lots to eat here!
We’ve had both Redtail hawks and Cooper’s hawks here in Newton Corner this summer. There is a utility pole in our neighbor’s yard and both types of hawk have used the top of the pole as a dinner table. Nice visual while we eat dinner on our deck, but that’s nature.
Max’s visuals correspond with our own this past year. Mostly Redtails along with a few Cooper’s and an occasional tiny Kestrel. I can’t say for sure what bird was at Sallee’s, but I’d play the odds and say probably an immature Redtail. They have a lot of things to feast on. It’s amazing how the wild animal population has changed in the Highlands since I was a kid. We never saw rabbits, chipmunks, deer, coyotes, raccoons, foxes. fishers, deer or beaver. Just an occasional skunk or muskrat. The native bird population has also been radically transformed. Several species which never ventured north of Virginia or the Carolinas in the 70s are now firmly established here. It’s a bit unsettling how rapid these changes are taking place.
My guess is a juvenile red-tailed hawk, but I will consult with local bird maven Pete Gilmore for a more reliable opinion.
Pete confirms: a juvenile red-tailed hawk. Thanks, Sallee.
Thank you all for the crowd-sourced answer! Especially Bob who knows a maven.