Wonderful Surprise Visitor!

by Juanne Michaud
(Windsor, Ontario, Canada)

I live in a small condo complex where the buildings are built around the block so as to create an interior open grassy square, with several middle-aged trees, which are home to a number of squirrels and birds.

I looked out of my window onto this area and saw a small raptor sitting on the ground, looking around.

I'm not a birder so I can't identify the species but here is what I observed:

Flat head; typical hawk beak

Brown & white mottled markings

I would guess the body to be about the size to be about the size of a domestic chicken. No estimate of tail length or wing width as I did not see them.

I would guess it was on the ground for about 10 - 15 minutes. Long enough for me to become concerned enough to look up the local wildlife rescue organization, anyhow. I was just about to call when I looked out again and it was gone.

If anyone could give me an idea of the type of raptor I saw, that'd be great.

I will keep an eye out; it was a delight to see a bird like this in the midst of the city.

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starstarstarstarstar 		Huge Red Tailed London,Ontario
by: Anonymous

December 2013,London, Ontario, Springbank Drive (Greenway Park area) was driving down my street to come home and a bird swooped in front of my windsheild and I had to swerve. The next day I saw it flying around over my property, thought it was gonna swoop for my dog (husky and it was still looking from above). The next day, I heard screeching from top of a pine tree, now today around 4:40pm, it is sitting on an electrical wire in front of my house, got pictures but battery now dead. The neighbours were out looking, cars stopped to see, I was underneath it looking up & it was looking down at me (little scarey), then flew to corner by flying down to ground & then back up, large wing span, anyway, by looking at these posts, believe it to be a HUGE female redtail Hawk?
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starstarstarstarstar 		Hawk
by: Alexis

My guess is the hawk you saw was probably a Cooper's Hawk. They're about 15-17 inches in length (40-45cm) and are seen quite often. A smaller version of that hawk is a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
If you've ever seen Hawks while driving the highway high up on trees or light poles they are more than likely a Red-tailed Hawk.

I'd Google Cooper's Hawk and see if that's the hawk you saw.

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