northeast-flora-and-fauna

I have to admit that I didn't recognize who this was at 1st. (I don't see a lot of Red-shouldered Hawks , and iNaturalist says they're critically imperiled in New Jersey.) The thin even stripes on the breast/belly reminded me of our accipiters , our Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk , but their heads would have more color and their tails wouldn't have white stripes. Instead it turned out to be the buteo that resembles an accipiter. Though this is considered of our most vocal hawks (listen to its soothing music stylings here ), this 1 wasn't talking. Perhaps because it had its mouth full; it was clearly tearing apart and eating some small animal. This was taken adjacent to a canal, so frogs, small turtles, snakes, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, and any number of small birds could have been its victim. Though some old-time birders considered Red-shouldered Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks to be arch enemies that wouldn't share a habitat, the Red-shouldered Hawk...

Two days ago was Buzzard Day , and despite the different nomenclature that holiday celebrates the (approximate) return date of Turkey Vultures to an Ohio town. It seems appropriate to show one of our local Turkey Vultures this week, especially since I get so many pictures of them. (I've toyed with doing a "Vulture of the Week" and/or a "Heron of the Week" just to work through all the pictures I've gotten of these birds.) Though here in the Western Hemisphere the name "buzzard" refers to our vultures (including the Black Vulture here in the US), in Europe the name "buzzard" refers to hawks, especially buteos . In most of the world, buzzards tend to be "hunters who sometimes scavenge" rather than "scavengers who rarely hunt". So if you're talking about buzzards with someone from another part of the world, you may not be talking about the same type of bird. October 14, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 250352683, (c) jpviole...

Here's a Red-tailed Hawk from last summer. The mostly North American buteo is arguably our most widespread and versatile raptors, living in forests, meadows, prairies, mountains, valleys, towns, and cities. They'll eat pretty much any animal small enough for them to kill, which is why they're able to live in areas with vastly different prey animals. Being this widespread means that lots of different populations, and these populations frequently form subspecies with different looks. There are 14-16 subspecies in all; here are the 7 north-of-Mexico ones: Eastern Red-tailed Hawk Western Red-tailed Hawk Alaska Red-tailed Hawk Southwestern Red-tailed Hawk Harlan's Hawk Krider's Hawk Florida Red-tailed Hawk My understanding is that all these subspecies willingly interbreed if they encounter one another, so you probably could see intermediates of many of these subspecies too. August 17, 2020 at Duke Farms