@LCL

What a gorgeous Owl.

@dirtdorphins, I believe that is a Cooper's Hawk. A real predator!
@sunkissed. Thank you for the kind words.
Love Owls. About now Snowy Owls migrate down the Atlantic coast where food is more plentiful. Its so fun (and cool) to look for them and get our cameras going.
They usually sit on the dunes or clumps in the marshes but occasionally they will find a rooftop as a lookout. These two are either females or juveniles. The male is almost pure white except beak and eyes.

I looked up the Snowy Owl and found this sweet story, love how smart the kiddos are describing the rare sighting of the owl in Florida.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/...

We have cooper's out this way--much smaller
here's one from last year


That was some kinda large Buteo--ferruginous maybe, or red tail
Missed the focus on this one

but there is the underside

and a terrible pic of another


These birds are huge--and lots of color morphs

@dirtdorphins, You perhaps are correct knowing you were closer to make a size judgement. I've seen Coopers with different markings than seen on the adult bird photo you included in your reply. Thank you,

My back yard is ideal for Eastern Bluebirds in summer and in winter. It is spacious enough and the nesting boxes are not too close to the woods or to each other. Unfortunately the pesky house sparrows discourage the Bluebirds from takig full advantage of the boxes.

Three colorful birds that are nice to see;

The Bobolink


The Blue Jay


The male Northern Cardinal. Each state has a "state bird" and seven states have adopted the Cardinal as their State Bird

Whether a "myth" or not about the Newfoundland "Black Backed Robins" in late December or early January in the northeast we will see flocks of Robins and with them will come Cedar Waxwings. In bad weather thinking they should be migrating, here are two on my heated birdbath (in a snow storm) that appear to be singing in unison. Perhaps the northeast may be a target destination for migrating birds from Newfoundland.

Monarch Butterfly on butterfly bush blossom. So good to see and know that some (hopefully many) are indeed surviving weather and migration challenges.

LCL said:Whether a "myth" or not about the Newfoundland "Black Backed Robins" in late December or early January in the northeast we will see flocks of Robins and with them will come Cedar Waxwings. In bad weather thinking they should be migrating, here are two on my heated birdbath (in a snow storm) that appear to be singing in unison. Perhaps the northeast may be a target destination for migrating birds from Newfoundland.

How about that

Yes, LCL, I was closer, and yet, never close enough!
For some reason, they won't just let me walk up on them and take their picture

Cute pair of robbins
We do have some year round here, and then a large influx in the spring from wherever they've been hiding

Here is another, pretty sure it's a red tail, with more context to help gauge size


and a little kestrel

it was pretty dark and snowing again at that point, but I was psyched to see him so sorry 'bout the low quality

and this one, wow not a common occurrence either

@dirtdorphins, The predators are amazing. I like the photo of the one in flight you feel is a Red Tail and the other one on the wire is difficult to identify but I'll study it some more. I see the underside of the tail so it could be a Sharp Shinned or maybe a Coopers.

From my dining (breakfast) area which leads off to a deck with sliding door, I can simply move the very steady tripod about 6 feet out onto the deck and see what's around. I'm trying to get more proficient with digiscoping (Celestron) on which I have an iPhone (7 plus adapter) and a T Ring adapter for my camera. (Pentax K 70) The closeup of the Red Tail (about 200-300 feet away) was taken with the iPhone and the scope. The other was taken with my camera with a 300 mm Sigma lens without the scope. Both photos observe the birds in the same tree and exact location. I'm an amature photographer but love it. The digiscoping hobby excites me because of the Snowy Owls that migrate down the east coast.

Well heck--that's what I need! a telescope!
The little one is a kestrel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I was surprised when I stepped out on my deck and got this photo of a Cooper's Hawk about 15 feet away. From my window I had noticed the small song birds had all disappeared. It's important that they do since an error in their judgement is usually their last.

some more bad, telephone-pole hawk pics from the other day...
no-focus-anywhere redtail dismissed me immediately, but that there is a redtail (Buteo jamaicensis)


and this is a rough-legged (Buteo lagopus) rather than the more common ferruginous (Buteo regalis)

chicken pose to evacuate before she dismissed me

see its leg feathers and dark carpal patches

all big Buteos that occupy the same prime areas around here currently, and like I said, lots of color morphs. The primary key to id the ferruginous and rough-legged hawks is they have feathers on their lower legs

Hey Dirt, Don't be so hard on yourself. Good to see and better to learn about the predators. Many folks simply say, " just saw a big bird and I think it was a hawk".Keep the photos coming. :

A Cooper's Hawk sat in the back of my yard this AM but wouldn't really show himself enough for me to even get a poor photo.

thankyou:

Here's a couple more sans utility-pole from last night
red tail


and a prairie falcon

didn't even see this one at first because it really looked like an extension of the messed up tree

Saw this Cooper's hawk yesterday eyeing the bird feeders. No birds in sight. Just a cheeky squirrel on deck. Hawk flew away and didn't bother the squirrel. Darn!

If only they would just eat the garden marauders, huh?
squirrels are heavy--hard to fly away with when they weigh as much as the bird

They also have teeth and claws to defend themselves with. Hawks aren't stupid.