SmilingBirder

thank you all! I passed along your comments to the photographer and she's very appreciative, and glad you confirmed her ID

Here is another view. The photographer said she meant to say red-shouldered hawk

This was posted on Instagram, and the photographer is leaning towards Cooper's hawk, but I'm leaning towards northern goshawk. Either way, a juvenile? Those happen to be the top 2 choices in Merlin ID when it scanned the photo.

thank you, that's very helpful

thank you

I believe it is a Swainson's. It came back a 3rd time, and I got a clearer look of the chalky white face. Also the vocalizations seem to match. I can't find any photo or illustration which quite has the same exact combination of markings (density and shade of stripes, etc), but the overall pattern of markings fits Swainson's best. Especially that chalky white face. Other things to support Swainson's: vocalizations, habitat, the fact that the sparrows weren't afraid, a white bar at the base of the tail when flying, the dihedral wings when flying (very dihedral the second flight I saw), and the shape and posture.

I considered that, especially based on shape and posture. Would a Swainson's have a pale breast, in between dark shoulders? Birdseye has a photo of one with a pale center breast, but the belly is completely unmarked.

I meant female northern harrier. Juvenile is quite different.

I'm afraid that even using a tripod and 2-second timer, my camera just can't get detail at 100 yards. But here's a hawk or falcon or something, hunting from some big round hay bales. When I stopped, there were a couple smaller birds next to it, sparrows or perhaps meadowlarks. It looks like: 1. Juvenile/immature broad-winged hawk 2. Immature northern goshawk 3. Prairie falcon 4. Adult male northern harrier (except head markings seem wrong) 5. Red-tailed hawk, particularly a juvenile, but they don't seem to have a clear white stripe above the eye like this 6. Ferruginous hawk, particularly an immature, but they also lack a bold eye stripe 7. Anything else?? Some details about the markings: gray wings with a scaly appearance (like juvenile semipalmated sandpiper), white stripe above eye. Pale neck and underparts, with brown streaks running lengthwise with the body, and getting denser toward the wings. Brown shoulders, but pale neck and breast between the shoulders. Shaggy looking upper legs, with brown dots on the pale downy feathers (not sure what they are called). It has a call, a lot like a killdeer. I know a lot of hawks do, so probably not helpful. I'm playing some audios for comparison, but I think I'm just confusing myself. Is the body shape helpful in eliminating or supporting any species? It flew away once and returned a few minutes later, then flew off again. I'm currently waiting for it to return. Hopefully. Update: it returned, and then a big tractor came rolling down the road and it flew off again, gliding very low to the ground, wings sometimes in a slight dihedral. A couple of weeks ago, I reported an identical bird as a prairie falcon, but ever since then I've been having doubts about that, so I'm hoping we can figure out if that's a possibility or not. If not, I need to revise that ID. Thanks!

Thanks! I emailed him, and within minutes he responded, "Hi, David. Thanks for getting in touch. I see no problems with Lesser Black-backed Gull. It appears rather dark and we might conjecture it's subspecies intermedius, but there's really no way to be certain without a known-origin bird."

Thanks, I've added some more photos, but I don't know if they will be helpful. I'm not aware of any Facebook gull page, and Google didn't come up with anything that seemed right. Do you happen to have a link?

I believe this is a lesser black-backed gull, which is rare for North Dakota, and most of the USA in general. Date is right now, September 12th, 5:45pm But please tell me if I'm right or wrong. Thanks!

That white wing patch puzzles me, but it could be wind exposing the underside of the feathers. Also, any chance these are dickcissels? I've only seen one in my life, but maybe?

Any chance it's a common yellowthroat?

Agree with northern flicker. The giveaways for me are the black spot on the breast, and that even though it's basically a woodpecker, I usually see them on the ground, eating ants and other bugs.

I'm not really good with shorebirds, but my best guess is juvenile western sandpiper

Just some possibilities for 1 are American restart, common yellowthroat, magnolia, maybe others. I'm leaning towards restart due to the lighter feathers on both sides of the tail. I can picture the bird flashing the characteristic bright fan tail.

Possibly a common yellowthroat (adult female or first year)? The eye marking doesn't look quite right to me, but maybe.

Good idea, except not in North Dakota, and the underwing colors aren't right

That seems to fit. Thank you!

Possibly solitary sandpiper, judging partly by the dark shoulders. Another possibility would be willet, but I don't think it is.

They look like hooded mergansers to me

Juvenile chipping sparrow?

Sept 4, 2018, Arrowwood NWR, SE North Dakota Large hawk, rather broad wings, but I don't think it's a broad-winged hawk. Flew in circles a lot, at heights from 20 to 50 feet or more. Then perched in this dead tree. It didn't seem to be a dihedral wing position. The wing tips were long dark "fingers". I'm thinking ferruginous hawk, partly because it's so bulky, and it seemed pretty large when it was flying. But in the picture where it raises it's wings, the color pattern seems wrong, like dark and light are reversed from what they should be. I'm sorry I don't have better pictures.