Our Big Backyard [Brendan Greeley]
We looked out over our back deck this morning, and saw this falcoln hawk perched on the railing, clutching a big sewer rat in her talons. It was a strange totally awesome reminder of what a urban/rural mash-up our Boston is. She sat there, watching us through the windows and shredding that rat like string cheese as we made our afternoon calls.
We did a birding show a while back. Can anyone identify our specimen?
Looks like a Red-Tailed hawk, but it would be helpful if we could get a closer look…
Looks to me like it could be a fairly common Marsh Hawk \ Northern Harrier, but cannot see if it has a white rump to confirm. It could also be a fairly common Red Tailed Hawk.
Likely female or immature.
See Northern Harrier
http://www.birdsasart.com/bn93.htm
http://whozoo.org/Intro2002/HuongPhan/HTP_NorthernHarrier.html
and Red Tailed Hawk
http://www.rocklandaudubon.org/
http://bailey.aros.net/nature/Raptors,%20Owls.htm
with immature at
http://www.johnsonmill.com/birding.html
for comparison.
It doesn’t really appear to be a falcon per se, as there is no eye band, but this would show more when the bird is in flight as falcon wings are narrower (for speed) than hawk wings (for hovering)
Thats my take based on one small picture …
This is the kind of stuff i love to see. Nice reporting!
and who knows…that mere ‘sewer rat’ may, one day, have terrorized the neighborhood.
This is a red tailed hawk looks like a young bird, compare to the photo at the link.
http://www.rocklandaudubon.org/images/Red-tailed%20Hawk%2001.jpg
” It was a strange totally awesome reminder of what a urban/rural mash-up our Boston is.”
I’ve only been to Boston once. I’d just read Gary Snyder’s The Practice of the Wild. In one of his essays he talked about how wilderness is everywhere if we only pay attention. Although I was there to participate in my sister’s wedding I tried to pay attention to what wilderness I might find in the urban landscape. It was May and very green. I don’t remember any Hawks but I always remember Boston for its green buzzing fliting humming wildlife.
well, a lot of new england has ‘rewilded’ over the past century with the decline of farming….
If you were in a Homeric epic poem, the hawk would be an omen of something. If the hawk was an eagle eating a snake, it would be the flag of mexico. So interpret this event at your convenience.
This hack-birder says, without hesitation or doubt, Red Tailed Hawk. Buff shest stripe is the clincher.
Another vote here for red-tailed Hawk. We have them here in central Mass.
One swooped down in a flash to grab a grey squirrel by my house last year. It was stunning and startling. He stared at us, we stared at him. He was clutching his prey. We thought we could save the squirrel but it was too late. The hawk flew off and left us the dead squirrel. It’s hard to interfere, it’s hard not to interfere.
I just remembered “Pale Male”- the Red-Tailed Hawk of Central Park ( and his mate Lola).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4159505
And for some amazing pictures:
http://www.palemale.com/pamalo20.html
Potter;
THANK YOU THANK YOU for the link to the Pale Male site. I just spent two hours drenched in their photos and story. Couldn’t let go of it.
I studied architecture in NY 30 years ago – what a way tyo reconnect: through Pale Male’s eyes.
RR Anderson;
An omen of the October Surprise, I think. But following Pale Male’s example, it’s always on to new and soaring scenes.
Way out here in the boonies of Boston neighborhood Roslindale, we see skunks, turkeys, hawks, coyotes and even, deer. It’s been awesome to see more and more wildlife returning. Makes the Arboretum more fun and hints that Mother Nature may still force us back into balance.
My neighbors swear they have seen mountain lions. The neighbor to the right has a little pond. She says she has seen the lions a few times. Once it was near her car and they both stared at each other before both turned in the opposite direction. I assume they come for a drink and the wildlife prey that gathers at the pond. The neighbor to the left saw one sleeping in her garden. So we no longer allow our cats out without as we did before- especially since we have also seen coyotes close, hear them howling in the night. When a cat is missing, it’s assumed that a coyote got it.
This is in central MA. As more and more land is being cleared for houses and shopping centers, (manifest destiny), the wildlife is getting squeezed into smaller pockets and so they come closer.