North Texas, this is a brownish hawk, wingspan maybe 3 feet He flies too far away for me to see any detail from underneath when i see him in the sky, but one time when he flew below me he was only about 20 feet away, and his back, tail and wings all looked the same color brown but with distinct white spots all over. Little spots, not stripes.

This is the best pic I could find to describe the color and spots. Anyone know what this hawk is?

Try a Red shouldered hawk as one it could be.


Some more info would help, shape of wings (pointed, rounded or with fingers of feathers).

Beak colour

Leg colour

.

I can't get that good a view of it, I just happened to see it gliding slowly below me, which gave me the view of the back.

From the pics of a red shouldered hawk that i can find, i don't see one that looks like that with the spots, but none of them are from above a stretched wingspan which I would guess is a rare picture. The pics I can find look more like stripes and this had spots.

I can't tell colors of anything from up in the sky, but I am pretty sure it has the wing "fingers" like you describe. I'll be out there all week so I'll look for more details. Thankls!

Try this website out for identification:

http://www.whatbird.com/browse...idae%29/default.aspx

Just remember that spots can become bars when all the feathers are joined together.


Try these for photos of it. It might help clarify or deduct it from the equation.

http://anthill.blog.com/tag/red-shouldered-hawk/


http://cs.birdwatchingdaily.co...S/media/p/66731.aspx


Type Red shouldered hawk into Google.
thousands of pictures come up.

Well crap, I see this old boy every day, until recently. Now that it has my curiosity up he's nowhere to be found.

I've looked those sites over, can't find one that looks like this. But memory is a fuzzy thing, now I'm not sure exactly what i saw. That's the way it goes i guess.

Hawks are pretty cool creatures. majestic and delicate at the same time, the way they just effortlessly float around.

quote:

Originally posted by ScottB:
North Texas, this is a brownish hawk, wingspan maybe 3 feet He flies too far away for me to see any detail from underneath when i see him in the sky, but one time when he flew below me he was only about 20 feet away, and his back, tail and wings all looked the same color brown but with distinct white spots all over. Little spots, not stripes.

This is the best pic I could find to describe the color and spots. Anyone know what this hawk is?

That would be the lesser spotted Guinea Hawk

Many hawks (and other birds) at this time of year are wearing their immature plumage...often much different and much drabber than that of adults. When you go to an ID guide or website make sure you check out these other plumages. Also, try to get a feel for the size of the bird, relative to something like a crow. Check out the length of tail, compared to the wings, as well as the shape of the wingtips and end of the tail.