Just Sighted a Ferruginous Hawk Out My Window

[Mcwop]

So I am sitting in my office, and this giant bird swoops down and lands in a tree. I ran outside to get a closer look (got about 15 feet away). After comparing to bird pics on the net it looks like it was a Ferruginous Hawk. I can’t figure out what this guy was doing in Maryland. They are usually found out west, in the Dakotas, and western Canada.

This guy was big - almost 2 feet tall with 4-5 foot wingspan.

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/o...s/buterega.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/romo/images/resou...inous-Hawk.jpg

[snowsprite]

Wow...yesterday my friend sent me the photo below. Evidently this female hawk flew into the glass in their building and was hobbling around stunned. They were worried she might die. She got her bearings though and flew into this tree, where someone snapped this photo of her. After a while she appeared to be okay and left. A beautiful bird!

Sprite


http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...ormal_hawk.jpg

[EPSkis]

Doubt it was a Ferruginous...WAY outside the range...Here's my guess:

Northern goshawk / Accipiter gentilis:

Any raptor that's large enough, fast enough & MEAN enough to readily attack a red-tailed hawk is a mean mf'er!

If it was a goshawk, it's definitely on the Southern reaches of it's range, but from the size, I have no idea what else it COULD be, short of an immature bald eagle. (The population of which is really coming up in the Patuxent basin - so not far from you..)

http://home.wanadoo.nl/m.goedegebuur/images/havik3.jpg

[iceman]

well, birds do get out of their ranges - there's a story in this morning's NYTimes about a red-footed falcon on Martha's Vineyard - first time one has ever been sighted in the Americas.

[Ubersheist]

I've never seen so many birds of prey then where I live now (outside of Sacramento). There's loads and loads of open fields out here - perfect for raptors to find field mice and snakes to eat. Every day I see at least 3-4. The most common one, though is the turkey vulture.

http://www.photomigrations.com/artic...es/0404501.jpg

Not very pretty... more spooky then anything else.

[EPSkis]

We have a ton of those here too.
Seems lately, I see them a LOT.
Last weekend down on MD Eastern shore, I must've seen 20 of 'em.

[hop]

We saw a Northern Harrier out by Turn Island (female; hunting seabirds WHY??? Eat the rodents like you should!!!) while surveying yesterday, and a colleague at the CWR saw another Tufted Puffin by Discovery Island.


Bird nerds are cool. heh.

[schuss]

At my house I've had: 2 nesting bald eagles (decided to move on, sadly)
4 separate golden eagles (ate our damn chickens, fucking cannibals)
countless hawks. It's neat to see them, as you never realize how damn big birds get.

[homerjay]

I worked on a cleanup site in South Philly, and perigrine falcons were nesting on the bridge where 95 goes over the Schulkill (sp? - sorry, it's been awhile). Girard Point maybe?

Either way, it was cool, except when they would buzz us when we got too close.

[iceman]

We had to get rid of our birdfeeder because it turned into a hawk feeder. Kind of freaked the kids out...tweet, tweet, tweet, BAM!!!!

[road trip]

Knowing it's a re-run - but this one was in my backyard last year:

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic13650.jpg

[mrw]

F'in red tail killed my daughter's pet duck.Happened right in front of my office window.By the time I got out there, said duck was dead. No shit, I would have shot the bastard if I had a gun handy.

[Big E]

For the past 2 years (maybe 3, can't remember), my folks have had a hawk family in either their yard or one of the neighbors. Wingspan on the adults is probably up around 4 feet. They've definitely reduced the rabbit population.

Last year, my dad was out mowing the lawn, stopped to move some stuff and noticed the hawk way up in the top of one of the trees (parent's house = ~14 100+yr old oaks, so up high). As my dad was watching it, it just dropped out of the tree (he said like it was shot), plummeted straight towards the ground, wings tucked back, and then about 10 feet from the ground spread his wings, pulled up, snatched a 5' black snake out of the grass, and went back into the trees. Very cool, sorry I missed it.

[Mcwop]

Originally posted by EPSkis
Doubt it was a Ferruginous...WAY outside the range...Here's my guess:

Northern goshawk / Accipiter gentilis:

Any raptor that's large enough, fast enough & MEAN enough to readily attack a red-tailed hawk is a mean mf'er!

If it was a goshawk, it's definitely on the Southern reaches of it's range, but from the size, I have no idea what else it COULD be, short of an immature bald eagle. (The population of which is really coming up in the Patuxent basin - so not far from you..)

http://home.wanadoo.nl/m.goedegebuur/images/havik3.jpg

I think you may be right. They are similar in size: 19-26 inches in length and a wingspan of 40-48 inches.

Here are some Goshawk pics:

http://www.the-owl-barn.com/bbop/goshawk.jpg
http://www.barrywales.co.uk/hawkingc...es/goshawk.jpg