This morning a very large juvenile accipiter briefly visited a tree next to my garden birdfeeder near the intersection of Aldine and Blair. I saw it with the naked eye through a window from about 15 feet away, but it flew off before I could grab a camera or binoculars. I’m tilting (cautiously) towards Goshawk rather than Cooper’s based on the following features:
1. Size and bulk. It looked very large – rather like a Red-shouldered Hawk but with a longer tail. It was much larger than a very brave gray squirrel that was mobbing it from a few feet away, and although I didn’t see them simultaneously, I would say it was easily more than twice the size of a Blue Jay or a Red-bellied Woodpecker and larger than an American Crow. On the other hand, it may have looked larger than it was simply because of how close I was to it. 2. Color and patterning. I saw it from the side-rear, and it seemed to have a greyish mid-brown tone, rather than a dark brown one, and had lots of coarse white spotting on its back and coverts. The left flank looked near-white, and the dark spotting seemed coarse, but the view wasn’t great. I had a good look at its head, and didn’t see an obvious white supercilium, but it was perched somewhat above my eye level. I realize that none of this is definitive, and that in an urban neighborhood Cooper's is far more likely, but I thought I’d put the information out for anyone who lives and birds in the neighborhood or surroundings (Como Park is quite close). If it was a Goshawk, it’s possible that it’s the same bird that was seen at Vadnais and Sucker Lakes in late 2022. Simon Emms ---- General information and guidelines for posting: https://moumn.org/listservice.html Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
