| Hello,
Could someone ID this hawk for me? It caught a mourning dove and my three resident red shoulders scolded it for hours while it tried to eat. It is about the same height as the red shoulders but with longer legs and a slimmer body. It called the entire time the other hawks were scolding it and allowed me to stand under the tree to take its photo. Once it finished its meal it moved to another tree and kept calling … with the male red shoulder sitting nearby.
I have a resident coopers hawk so I know what they look like and they are very shy … this guy isn’t shy at all. I cannot find it in any of my books … it’s just so dark all over. Any ideas?
Thank you for your help.
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Image link: ID help ... hawk in central florida (39 k)
| Could it be an unusually dark-feathered red-shoulder? The 2-toned bill and dark eyes are red-shoulder features ... They are called "melanistic" when it's unusually dark for the species. We have a few red-tails around there that are almost chocolate colored. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Look at bill and eyes
