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Shellwake

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  1. Shellwake
    Pipit
  2. Shellwake
    You guys are right. I went out yesterday and it IS a fake owl that was recently added. (I walk by that way frequently because it’s so close to where I live.). There is no bird feeder or any obvious reason that they would want a fake owl. I wonder why they put there. Just a major coincidence that a Hawk was hunting in the most populated area I’ve ever seen one hunt in right around the corner from the new fake owl. Afterwards, we discovered it was fake we walked around and looked at the other fake owls in the area to compare since we never fall for those ones. I came to the conclusion that the decoys have either improved greatly or, more likely, they get worn by weather, sun, wind, rain, ice, snow etc.. A brand new owl is a lot more convincing than a weathered one. It fooled everyone that saw it with us that day. The other 100 fake owls that the pigeons literally land on top of look a lot more fake. Sometimes I have to laugh when I think about how ridiculous it must look to a bird, I’ve never seen a real GHO so they must not be out during the day very often. However, when the pigeons fly over this area it looks like they’re everywhere. Some of them are so close that you can see multiple fake owls on different roofs at the same time. Thank you! I wouldn’t have went back to look and would have been disappointed in the future if you hadn’t tipped me off.
  3. Shellwake
    We have about 100 of those fake owls in the neighborhood that I live in. I even looked into getting one but since they clearly don’t work I decided not to. it’s only a couple blocks from where I live. I was very close to it. There was never a fake owl there before. I will walk back to make 100% sure it’s real since it will be dark out in less than an hour. It seemed to small for a GHO. I’ve never seen a real one but I’ve seen a barred owl up close and thought it was enormous. I hear GHO are larger. Since I haven’t seen one, I can’t say for sure. It was about the size of a crow or Cooper’s hawk. Someone walking up the street told me it was an Eastern Screech Owl and I’ve never seen one of those either. It’s a bad picture because it’s taken with an iPhone. It didn’t look like it had ears until it turned towards me. It may have been brown but looked more grey. I have a feeling I’m going to regret not wanting to freak it out and not get more video if I don’t get this identified. It’s always a delicate balance getting video vs freaking out wildlife. Be back shortly with an update.
  4. Shellwake
    At around 11:30AM in Portland, Maine on 12/20 I saw what I saw what I thought was a crow, then a Cooper’s hawk as it chased a flock of pigeons. I saw it again a few minutes later where it had landed on a chimney. It looked kind of greyish like a Peregrine Falcon. If suddenly turned it’s head to look at me with it’s beautiful yellow eyes and I realized in disbelief that it was an owl. I didn’t want to freak it out too much since it was paying more attention to me than hunting at that point, so I snapped a picture of it with my crappy cell phone camera which I will upload here. It was in a very populated area and I pointed it out to someone and she thought that it was an Eastern Screech Owl although Hawk Owl seems to fit better to me but I honestly don’t know or I wouldn’t be asking. Thank you in advance! IMG_1550.mp4
  5. Shellwake
    I thought at first but the wings were a little more broad than I’m used. Reminded me a little of the famous Great Black Hawk last winter RIP. I ran multiple photos through Merlin and it’s very insistent that it’s a Golden Eagle. I can’t even get Bald Eagle in the results which never happens when I see one. I didn’t even know there were Golden Eagles in Portland, Maine at all so I looked it up and it said they rarely go through on migration which is right now. Can you tell me what information you based your decision off of please so that I can learn? Maybe you can try setting your location for Portland, Maine and the date as Nov.8 and running the photos through Merlin well to see what I mean. Thank You! Look forward to hearing back!
  6. Shellwake
    Portland, Maine. About 9AM. Much larger than crows and seagulls attacking it. Reminded me of a young bald eagle but the wings seem different. Maybe, broader? I ran some photos through Merlin and couldn’t get bald eagle to come up and that added even more skepticism. Any ideas? Sorry my phone camera is all I have but it’s better than no photos. FullSizeRender.mov
  7. Shellwake
    Larger than a robin, smaller than a crow. Wading In the shallow ocean water. The belly looks like it’s a different color than the top. I haven’t seen these before. They must be less common in the city. August 27th. Around 1PM. Portland, Maine. 77D72E70-BB0A-401D-B2DC-025CBB21D254.MOV
  8. Shellwake
    That’s really smart thinking Charlie and would be a good explanation for why he was interested in something on the ground. I just don’t know why the Osprey would be circling and diving several times to pick up a dead fish. The answers were probably behind that hill but I didn’t want to interfere via nosiness. Adding on to your thoughts. Do they ever steal food from other animals? Thank you for confirming Osprey Kevin.
  9. Shellwake
  10. Shellwake
    Thank god. It says the video uploaded. Yes, it is water on one side of the street and woods on the side of the street i’m filming from. I can tell you what I saw afterwords but It would make things more confusing and people may doubt me.
  11. Shellwake
    0D636253-E070-4C4D-809E-C08E32C9C96C.mp4
  12. Shellwake
    There was an error uploading the video and it wouldn’t allow me to edit my original post to include the video. I keep getting error -200. One file that is 24.7mb
  13. Shellwake
    I thought that this bird was an Osprey but it was very clearly hunting something on the land. I’ve seen Osprey’s take materials do nests from beaches but this was hunting. It took at least 2 attempts before I filmed one. I don’t think an osprey would need multiple attempts to pick up nesting material. Do Ospreys Hunt land animals? Could this be a different bird? This was on Commercial Street in Portland, Maine. June 19th around 3PM. A dense patch of woods is on one side of the street and the ocean on the other. The video shows the bird very clearly after something on the ground. Sadly. that something is directly behind the man hill on the construction site. There is no mistaking what is going on here. (sorry the stupid max video size won’t allow more for better ID)
  14. Shellwake
    Portland, Maine. Could this belong to a starling? Found in my yard, in a very urban area. (City of 70,000 in high density area) It was below a tree. I don’t know the time it was left but it was found during the day. It is about 2 inches long from top to end.
  15. Shellwake
    Thank you. I will mark it as a GBHE
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