raptors (hawks) on your yard list

[amazona]

I have seen 8 raptor species from my yard or house in southeast Louisiana:

Swallow Tailed Kite
Mississippi Kite
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Red-Tailed Hawk

I feel like at some point I should be able to add Broadwing Hawk, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture at the very least but for whatever reason never noticed them from the yard. Kestrel and Merlin are not impossible either. I have only seen Peregrine once in this town and it was on the other side of town, so dunno if I'll ever get that one.

How about ya'll?

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Fleurs du Mal]

1. From my yard...

Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, and Red-tailed Hawks.

[blindpig]

2. best I can figure

black vulture
turkey vulture
red-tailed hawk
red-shouldered hawk
broadwinged hawk
cooper hawk
sharp-shinned hawk
northern harrier

The black vultures sometimes roost in the trees on top of the hill, turkeys fly over regular as sunrise. The accipiters and broadwings hunt at my feeders. Red-shoulders are more common around the house than red-tails, I suspect they nest. Harriers are long distance sightings, better seen on the nearby pastures and hayfields. Kestrels and merlins are pretty uncommon winter birds, haven't seen our southern kestrel ssp in over 10 years.

edit: Great John Mitchell quote! Speaks volumes.

[LWolf]

3. From my yard:

Just red-tailed hawks. They sit in the trees, and sometimes on the fence, around the yard and watch the doves eating my chicken scratch. One flew over a little while ago, about 10 feet off the ground.

On my weekly trail rides, seen off of my horse:

Kestrel
Golden Eagle
Red-shouldered hawk
Ferruginous hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Coopers hawk
sharp-shinned hawk
turkey vulture
barn owl
great horned owl
burrowing owl

I ride in a valley, and up the hills and mountains, about a 15 minute drive from my house.

[Minimus]

4. I had a sharp Shinned Hawk that was a regular visitor to my yard

last winter. I'm in the Piedmont area of NC.

I noticed alot of feathers around my bird feeders and was wondering if a stray cat or something was getting to my birds. Then one day I happen to glance out my kitchen window and their it was just sitting pretty on my fence.

There was a sparrow on one of my feeders and you could tell it was just pressed as far into the corner to not be seen and sitting so still.

I stared at the hawk for I while, got I definite ID then shooed it away so the sparrow wouldn't have a heart attack. I know they have to eat too, but I couldn't stand to let it happen.

I saw it several more times throughout last winter, but haven't seen it since.

As for Turkey Vultures, they are abundant around my property. Their was a deer carcass near me, but what I saw first was a tree full of the Vultures. Just sitting there, about 10 of them all on different branches. Now that was and eerie sight. They took turns eating for a few days and pretty soon there was nothing but bones.

[scarlet_owl]

5. I've only seen red-tailed hawks around my neighborhood.

But there is a Cooper's hawk that lives around the Nature Center where I am a volunteer.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. Red-Tailed Hawk

That's it.

[okasha]

7. Yard raptors

Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Mississippi Kite (100's overhead in migration)
Northern Harrier
Great Horned Owl
TV
BV

[StClone]

8. I am surprised you don't have Osprey and Merlins

My yard list for 2004 raptors:

Bald Eagle
Osprey
Great Horned Owl
American Kestrel
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Merlin
Broad-winged Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk

In past years in my neighborhood I've had Barred Owl, Northern Goshawk, Golden Eagle and Peregrine Falcon

[likesmountains 52]

9. I have a Sharp Shinned Hawk that visits

my yard frequently, attracted by the birds at my feeders. I have actually watched him snag a little finch, but I usu sally send my dog out to scare him off. A few winters ago I noticed something in the snow under my lilac bush and when I went out to look closer it was a small owl eating a starling. I have never seen an owl in my yard before or since. I did take a cool picture!

[primavera]

10. Sharpies and Coopers are about it

I live in the middle of Washington DC, so not many raptors (other than chickenhawks) find their way here. I do live on a large tract of undeveloped, forested parkland, though, which is where I've seen the odd sharpie.

[Stepup2]

11. Other than the owls,

I have seen Sharpies and Coopers and I have a regular red-tailed diner.


My neighbor teases me about feeding the hawks with my bird feeder. I have moved feeder into an area of dense overhand, but he hunts regularly.

There have been several hundred acres deforested for housing in my area, and I have noticed this winter that I have more raptors in general.

[Quakerfriend]

12. From my yard outside of Phila

Many bald and golden eagles, red-tailed hawks,coopers, harriers, turkey vultures and last year my 11 year old took a picture of a peregrine falcon in one of our trees!

[LuLu550]

13. Near the Hudson River in Upstate New York

Bald eagles, osprey, red tails, rough legged in winter, merlins, kestrels, peregrines, sharp shinned, Marsh..I'm sure I am leaving something out. We get lots right here by the river.

[Zenlitened]

14. I *think* I saw a red-shouldered hawk today...

...in eastern Massachusetts, near the New Hampshire border.

I was driving, so only got a brief look. And I'm very new to birding, so my ID skills may be a bit suspect! :D

Still, looking in my books and on some ID sites, I'm feeling pretty sure it was not a red-tailed hawk (which I spot now and then above the field behind my house).

The hawk I saw today floated to the ground to land in the wide, grassy median between the lanes of I-495. The tawny color of its breast is what makes me think it was a red-shouldered: