I’m no expert but I agree with your son. Falcons prey on other birds and nest on rocky ledges. (Or big buildings). Both make it unlikely this Decatur bird is a falcon.
The photo is a bit dark, but it is not a fakcon nor a red tailed hawk. I was able to get a good look as he had his dinner and it is a Cooper’s Hawk – notable by the white leggings with black dots (not visible in the picture but there none the less).
My son concedes since he could not see the leggings in the photo. 🙂 Nice to see so many types of hawks in town. We have a pair of red shouldered hawks in our neighborhood and have seen both red-tailed and Cooper’s recently as well. Also saw a killdeer near the post office and had a GBH on my neighbor’s roof. Add the barred and great-horned owls and sometimes it doesn’t feel like the city! 🙂
Great picture. Back in the day, Decatur High School had two famous hawks. One was know as Big Hawk and the other Little Hawk. Normally hawks are not social creatures but these two played so well together that they became legends. I wonder what happened to those guys?
Anyway, send chipmunk eating hawk over to my neighborhood ASAP.
Falcon’ great pic, man!
the look on that bird’s face screams “falc-off!”
It squirelly does…
Rise up!
Oh my! I love this photo! Great job.
What a beautiful bird.
Wow!
surprisingly, it doesn’t have one of my chickens.
which is nice.
My son is insisting this is a juvenile red-tailed hawk, not a falcon. Agree/disagree?
I’m no expert but I agree with your son. Falcons prey on other birds and nest on rocky ledges. (Or big buildings). Both make it unlikely this Decatur bird is a falcon.
The photo is a bit dark, but it is not a fakcon nor a red tailed hawk. I was able to get a good look as he had his dinner and it is a Cooper’s Hawk – notable by the white leggings with black dots (not visible in the picture but there none the less).
My son concedes since he could not see the leggings in the photo. 🙂 Nice to see so many types of hawks in town. We have a pair of red shouldered hawks in our neighborhood and have seen both red-tailed and Cooper’s recently as well. Also saw a killdeer near the post office and had a GBH on my neighbor’s roof. Add the barred and great-horned owls and sometimes it doesn’t feel like the city! 🙂
Great picture. Back in the day, Decatur High School had two famous hawks. One was know as Big Hawk and the other Little Hawk. Normally hawks are not social creatures but these two played so well together that they became legends. I wonder what happened to those guys?
Anyway, send chipmunk eating hawk over to my neighborhood ASAP.