23 replies to this topic

[Scsh]

Saw a hawk like bird today in my backyard.

Almost solid gray back and wings, fanned tail with white markings on tail tips.

Typical hawk beak.


We have had 'buzzards' as my husband calls them for about 3 weeks in the area.

They 'caw' or 'ark' much louder and coarser than crows.

They are gray but haven't seen them closely.

They are NOT Turkey Vultures

[The Sego Sago Kid]

How about... northern goshawk?

[BarnSwallow]

Sounds like they might be Cooper's hawks.

[Scsh]

Sounds like they might be Cooper's hawks.

Would they come in flocks? There are quite a few of them. Awful sound that they make. Aargh, aargh and quite often

[Scsh]

How about... northern goshawk?

I've looked up raptors and vultures in the Pacific Northwest, and wondered myself about the northern goshawk.

Sad about it, it seems that the hawk? caught 'our' violet-green swallow parents. Sat proudly for a split second on top
of the birds nest.
And these swallows come back every year, even brought their offspring of last year back, they were nesting too. Haven't
seen them yet tonight. They might all be gone.

[TheBillyPilgrim]

Possibly Black-Billed Magpies?

[TheBillyPilgrim]

Goshawks are pretty quiet, secretive birds in general. Not likely to be seen in groups.

[Scsh]

Goshawks are pretty quiet, secretive birds in general. Not likely to be seen in groups.

My neighbour said tonight she saw them closely too and they are definitely vultures.
Maybe I should call Wildlife, they should know?

[fisherman1313]

North American vultures are usually silent and do not hunt. If the birds in your yard are calling loudly and catching swallows the are almost certainly not vultures. Can you give us an idea of the size of these birds?

[BarnSwallow]

No hawks travel in flocks, except in migration. Harris's hawks do travel in small groups, but they live in the southwest, You may have a family - parents and a couple of juveniles learning to hunt.

[creeker]

Possibly Common Raven?

[Scsh]

North American vultures are usually silent and do not hunt. If the birds in your yard are calling loudly and catching swallows the are almost certainly not vultures. Can you give us an idea of the size of these birds?

No, these birds sounds exactly like crows, just 20 times louder and coarser. My neighbour says it sounds as if they bring death.
It's really an eerie sound and they go on and on.

And they are really gray, not black which I expect a raven to be.

They are bigger than crows, have crow-like bodies, smaller than Turkey vultures. Just saw 3 of them flying by.

I am beginning to believe that this bird in my backyard was a hawk, not a vulture but in that split second.watching it fly into the yard and perching on
the birdhouse, I thought it was one of the vultures.
We have red tail and Coopers hawks around our place

[TheBillyPilgrim]

If they keep returning, any chance you could snap a picture? Even a poor/blurry one would likely clear it up immediately. Also, out of curiousity what part of Oregon are you in?

[Scsh]

If they keep returning, any chance you could snap a picture? Even a poor/blurry one would likely clear it up immediately. Also, out of curiousity what part of Oregon are you in?

We went on vacation, sorry for not responding.
We are in the Portland/Hillsboro area.
Since we returned, these birds seemed to have moved on. I hear one or 2 of them now and then, but don't see them anymore.
The hawk is still hanging around in our trees, they seem to be territorial.
The other swallow nest lost the male and the female kept breeding and is constantly feeding the little ones.
Interesting is that the male of the other nest, keep on coming back and stays for a few minutes, circling around the nest,
looking in and then fly off again.

[Liam]

How about Gray Jays? They don't have hawk beaks, bu they're gray, travel in flocks, and are more vocal than hawks.

[Scsh]

How about Gray Jays? They don't have hawk beaks, bu they're gray, travel in flocks, and are more vocal than hawks.

We have Gray Jays here sometimes. They are very small compared to these birds and would come to feed if I put bread crumbs out
Not in the same class as vultures and hawks.

These birds were more of a type of vulture..
My husband calls them Buzzards, as do the people in the area. Couldn't really find anything online on that.

[eripma]

Your description of the call and plumage color sounds like Clark's Nutcrackers. They commonly flock and are very loud when calling. They aren't as big as crows but size can be difficult to judge in some situations.

[BarnSwallow]

The bird that people in the US refer to incorrectly as "buzzards" are turkey vultures. I've never heard that term applied to anything else in the US. There are 3 species of vulture in the US - turkey vultures, which are pretty widespread, black vultures, which are in the southeast US and Mexico, and California Condors, which number in the double digits. They are all black, or nearly so - the turkey vulture is brownish. None have white tail tips.

The vultures' beaks are hawk-like, but the heads are very distinctive http://www.google.co...iw=1017&bih=455

Here are the sounds they make http://www.allaboutb..._vulture/sounds


There are no other vultures in the US.

[psweet]

Actually, BarnSwallow, I just checked -- the wild population of California Condors is up to 243! Most of those are still released birds, but the wild-hatched population is up to 42.

[Joejr14]

And to add, Black Vultures are common up here in CT. They've been expanding their range significantly--to the point where I'd say they're fairly common along most of the east coast.