Big Bird Watchers.... need an opinion.

[Snaggletooth]

I'll go with an informed opinion on this one.

 

Back in November I was backing out of the garage and noticed something at the corner. Saw some movement and had the camera handy in the case in the handlebars so I tried to grab a pic or two but the distance is about 50 feet and only had a few seconds to get a pic. Wasn't quite sure what I was seeing but it looked like a bit of a dustup between the bird and another animal on the ground.

 

Now, hawks are common around here, always around. But in November eagles are in the area also. This was a fairly good sized bird and the photos are not very clear.

Any guess as what this might be?

 

I paid this no mind until last night while talking to a neighbor and he brought up a story his young daughter had told him last fall about their missing cat. He thought she was full of it but I remembered the pics I took. Either way,..... it's quite possible his kids story is spot on.

 

I go with hawk but the coloring has me wondering.

 

So what you think? Hawk or a young eagle?

[wideopenrod]

definitely a sasquatch, or up north called a Yeti...

 

or could just be an eagle.. if you squint, it could almost be anything!

[dunvilsteev]

I'm guessing, it IS hard to tell, however, I'd be leaning towards hawk or osprey, eagles tend to have dark bodies, his body looked light colored to me. But having said that an immature eagle is a definite possibility.

Edited April 24, 2013 by dunvilsteev
addition

[dacheedah]

they like live prey and I watch them nail rabbits, squirrels, fish and other birds with precision on the fly so kitties probably look like lunch also. I have a wooden pole they like to sit on and tear stuff apart, I don't know if they take carcasses to their nest or not.

[Snaggletooth]

definitely a sasquatch, or up north called a Yeti..

 

Nice try, but I'm not even in the pics.

[meach]

I vote for some type of hawk. You didn't mention which eagles you have around (Bald or Golden) bald eagles tend to live around water (if you have large bodies of water around) and normally feed on water related critters such as fish, water snakes, etc and they tend to also scavenge any dead things they run across. Golden tend to feed more on land animals such as rabbits, etc. We have several hawks around that keep our song birds & squirrels in check. In recent years more coyotes around have been picking off cats & dogs.

[usedcyclesales]

could be an Osprey don't know if they're found in your part of the country but a bunch here (Florida)and thats about the size. Oh and a small cat wouldn't be out of the question I've seen them with some pretty big fruit rats in they're talons and always see them with large fish. A lot of people mistake them for eagles from a distance and the color can varie but they all have white heads

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://archies.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/osprey3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://archies.info/animals/osprey/&h=800&w=1000&sz=122&tbnid=tSLDQXo1oJytyM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=113&zoom=1&usg=__UVJ0hToI1bpRtOmEiWsirxk3FT8=&docid=hjXp8SoaPdN5DM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Gh14UZOPHoO-9QSN3IH4DQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFUQ9QEwBQ&dur=4420

Edited April 24, 2013 by usedcyclesales

[bj66]

we get several eagles around here. They follow the goose migration. Easy pickings for them. Just the other day I saw a hawk in the road ditch picking at a carcass of an animal. The carcass was down in the snow a bit and I couldnt really see what it was. The hawk tried to fly away with it and ended up dropping the carcass shortly after it took off. The carcass was as big or bigger than the hawk itself. I got out my binoculars and got a good look at what it was eating. It was a blue goose. Dont know how the goose died, but the hawk was trying to fly with it. So I would say a cat is definately no problem for a hawk.

[Snaggletooth]

Being where I am in Nebraska I can almost toss the Osprey out of the picture. Almost. With the Missouri river, and the larger local lakes including DeSoto Bend Refuge just across the river we do see a lot of birds not known to be native to the area.

 

The Bald Eagle is the most common here along the river and are seen nesting quite often. But the bald does have the darker body. A younger one can be mistaken for a young Golden.

 

Judging only by size and distance it may well have been a young eagle but the the Hawk seems most likely in the area.

 

When they were looking for their missing cat the daughter told her mom that she saw it fly away with a big bird. Folks weren't buying that for a second.

 

City folks ya know. I feel bad for the kid. At least she didn't understand it was a pickup for take out.

[Snaggletooth]

Can't blame the birds. Some will try to eat anything and some can't handle living in the city.

[Wade 2000]

It's a Hawk for sure as others have pointed out Eagles are much darker and Ospreys and Falcons are sleeker. Either way the cat had it coming:rotf:

[meach]

Can't blame the birds. Some will try to eat anything and some can't handle living in the city.

 

Ya never know, I have this pond in my back yard with mostly cheap goldfish that we we've had for several years, some of the older ones were 6" or longer and really pretty, I noticed the only large lemon colored we'd had for several years up and disappeared with no signs of dead fish or anything. Didn't think much more about it and weeks later my daughter is looking out the window saying what the heck is that and pointing to a bird standing about 6' tall in my pond. Turns out to be a Blue Heron using my pond was his breakfast buffet here in a subdivision in metro Atlanta, started coming around more and more, cleaned out all my big fish, finally had to put some mesh over pond until tree leaves came out and he couldn't see the fish as he's flying over. Good thing the fish were only the 10 for dollar variety, if they were expensive koi we might had to take more drastic action.

[Snaggletooth]

Either way the cat had it coming:rotf:

 

Why do I get the feeling you hang out with this guy. :rotf:

[Wade 2000]

Why do I get the feeling you hang out with this guy. :rotf:

 

Hey Willy where's Lucky??

[ragtop69gs]

Looks like a Red Tail from what I can see

[dacheedah]

And I thought this thread had something to do with public television

[First_N_Last]

Looks like a Do Do Bird to me

 

[Prairiehammer]

Looks like a Red Tail from what I can see

[friesman]

here is another option, there are quite a few of these around, at least wherever the bald eagles aren't. We have similar country to Nebraska so it might like it south of here too. I saw one take a neighbours cat after dive bombing it a few times to disable it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Falcon

 

Brian