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I'm terrible with hawks!

I can't come up with anything besides Red-tailed Hawk.

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In the picture the bird looks little to me.  About how big was it?

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Why not juv. Broad-winged Hawk?

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Joseph Morlan
Fall Birding Classes in San Francisco start September 15

Juvie. Broad-winged can have orange coloring in the front?

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roundywaves:

In the picture the bird looks little to me.  About how big was it?

Um...   it was pretty decent sized, probably about as large as a Cooper's hawk or so.  Definitely not as big as the red-tailed hawk we had grab a squirrel last year.  

Here's a (fuzzy) picture of a grackle that I took earlier near the same area of the platform feeder to give you an idea of size -- I'd say the hawk was about twice the size of a grackle.

http://picasaweb.google.com/andrewnoble/Critters#5242666346804886418

I have to agree with juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk.  Adult Broad-Winged can have a buff cast on the breast, but the juveniles are white breasted except for the streaking.  I don't think the size matters much at this age, though I get what you mean about Broad-winged size.  I'm going by as much as we can see of the tail, underside of the wings, coloration and build, the look in it's eye, the haughty air with which it carries itself, and it's specific gravity.

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Do Lesser Goldfinches suffer from low self-esteem?

Since another photo is never bad, here's a link to one more:

http://picasaweb.google.com/andrewnoble/Critters#5242684517192755442 

In my opinion it's definitely a Broad-winged Hawk.  Of course juveniles can be light buffy below ( I do not see any orange coloration on my monitor).  The new photo eliminates Red-shouldered Hawk (no bars on secondaries).  The first photo shows the broad dark subterminal bar, much broader than the other dark bars.  That's good for Broad-wing and bad for Red-tail. 

The bird lacks the belly band of typical juv Red-tail and the shape of the bird appears too petite.

Head pattern with strong supercilium and dark malar connecting to lateral breast streaking typical of Broad-wing.

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Joseph Morlan
Fall Birding Classes in San Francisco start September 15

Looks like Broad wing to me as well.

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Life List: 420
Last Added: Tufted Duck

Yeah, there wasn't any orange coloration to the bird.

Thanks for the ID, Joe!  A lifer for me.  I appreciate the ID tips to differentiate between the hawks in the future.

An interesting note:  Later, I was watching a couple of mourning doves chase each other around the platform (they do this from time to time).  Suddenly, they both took off, right as the hawk dove-bombed the feeder.  I think both doves got away, but it was an amazing sight to see. 

Guess we need to get our monitors adjusted Bird Man. 

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Do Lesser Goldfinches suffer from low self-esteem?

I also see no orange....and agree with the call that this is a juvie broad-winged

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
Immanuel Kant

Cornman:

Guess we need to get our monitors adjusted Bird Man. 

Or maybe our's are the only good ones.

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