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Hawk Help - Again


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Ok, I thought I was getting better with my hawks, but this guy I can't figure out. This was this early morning here in San Antonio. The backstory: the whole past week, my co-worker comes in the back gate by the airfield at Lackland/Kelly AFB and he told be about this pair of hawks he saw each morning perched on the fence by the airfield. The other side of the road has woods. He described them to me and I pulled up some pictures based upon what I thought they were based upon his description: Cooper's Hawks. So, this morning (Saturday) I went out to see if they were there and get pics. Sure enough, they were there. However, once I got home and downloaded the pics - they didn't look like the Cooper's Hawk reference pictures I used. The pair was there - but one was on the fence and the other was across the road in the trees. The one in flight is the bird that was in the trees and took off across the airfield after the one on the fence had taken off.

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I couldn't find any reports of rough legged hawks in San Antonio on ebird this year so far. If these are rough legged hawks it would fairly rare and worth reporting on ebird. I am fairly new to birding so when I looked at the photos they looked like Osprey to me which have been reported in San Antonio this year.

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45 minutes ago, Kerri said:

I couldn't find any reports of rough legged hawks in San Antonio on ebird this year so far. If these are rough legged hawks it would fairly rare and worth reporting on ebird. I am fairly new to birding so when I looked at the photos they looked like Osprey to me which have been reported in San Antonio this year.

In the first two photos, the markings are the head are not a good match for an Osprey.  The colored areas would be more sharply defined, and there would be more dark / black.  In the fifth photo, the pattern under the wings isn't a good match either.

Edited by Charlie Spencer
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I agree with Kerri on if they are Rough-legged hawks they should be reported. They aren't common to here in San Antonio. Hence, the reason I was wanting to get the usual expert advice on here. You guys have always been great. After @Merlierax said Rough-legged, I went and looked. The pics from my admittedly uninformed view, do appear to be a pair - male and female. And thanks Sean C for the second. Charlie your input is always valued as well. Kerri, I am new at this also, and the folks on here have been a GREAT source of help and I have been learning  a lot.

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