Acuity
Nomad
Posts: 195
Registered: 5-26-2005
Location: Comox, BC, and Todos Santos
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Mood: Craving sleep!
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Help identifying this bird, please
Two days ago, a very large bird came to sit in one of our palm trees in Todos Santos. It was the size of an eagle, mostly black except for horizontal
bars on its tail. A very hooked beak, and a head like an eagle (or osprey) Bigger than an osprey, though. Don't think it was a Caracara - wrong
shape head (and it was black)
No, it wasn't a vulture! It's wings, when it flew away, were neither particularly broad, nor narrow. The local birds got quite upset when it
arrived, and quietened down when it left.
I've never seen one quite like this, and I can't see anything like it in my bird books - any ideas for what it was? And I wasn't either dreaming or
over-medicated - my wife saw it as well!
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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What color horizontal bars?
(not that I know from birds, but might help ID)
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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Crusoe
Senior Nomad
Posts: 731
Registered: 10-14-2006
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Acuity........It was most likely a Golden Eagle. Depending on the present lighting situation you were or were not looking into (birds feather colors
play tricks) you may or may not have been looking at the same color as in a bird book. I have seen Golden Eagles in Baja and even offshore from a boat
out in the Sea of Cortes along way from land. ++C++
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Acuity
Nomad
Posts: 195
Registered: 5-26-2005
Location: Comox, BC, and Todos Santos
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Mood: Craving sleep!
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Natalie:
The bars were lighter - grey / brown, and only on the tail. Visible when sitting.
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Cardon
Nomad
Posts: 241
Registered: 4-23-2004
Location: Salt Lake City
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Acuity
Two days ago, a very large bird came to sit in one of our palm trees in Todos Santos. It was the size of an eagle, mostly black except for horizontal
bars on its tail. A very hooked beak, and a head like an eagle (or osprey) Bigger than an osprey, though. Don't think it was a Caracara - wrong
shape head (and it was black)
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Possibly a Harris Hawk. I see them frequently down there. Here is a link to a picture:
http://identify.whatbird.com/img/4/1874/image.aspx
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Acuity
Nomad
Posts: 195
Registered: 5-26-2005
Location: Comox, BC, and Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
Mood: Craving sleep!
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Cardon - I think that's it. Looked at Wikipedia entry as well and there's a picture there that is very like what we saw - I gather those in Baja can
be a little darker. They are supposed to hunt in packs, so I wonder where its buddies were?
Anyway, many thanks!
Another example of the value of this board!
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