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What kind of Raptor is this?

12 years ago

Hi, I'm a newbie here and I live on Sacramento River in Northern California. I was in my backyard and saw this Raptor across the river. I took the picture with a telephoto lens from 125 yards away so it's not super sharp. At first I thought this was an Osprey, but it looks different. Is it a White-tailed Kite?

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Comments (3)

tmff
12 years ago
You had it right the first time! It is an Osprey. The facial markings are unique to this species.

A White-tailed Kite is significantly smaller than an Osprey (15 in versus 23 in) and, whereas it has black around its eyes, does not have this heavy dark line over the eye and down the neck (as the Osprey has).

Also, that long neck is Osprey (WTKI has a short stubby neck). The all dark wings leading down to a dark tail also differ from the WTKI. And look at the size of that bill! That is for eating fish (and the WTKI has a smaller hooked bill for insects and small mammals). I also see the Osprey's characteristic yellow iris here (WTKI has red).

The slight markings on the chest of this Osprey indicate it may be a juvenile. That may be what looked different about it.

Glad to have a raptor question to answer! It's been slow around here!
John317
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for your response. Very helpful. It was late afternoon when that guy showed up in that tree. In the morning that same tree is occupied by 18 to 20 Turkey Buzzards taking the morning sun. We live just a few miles down river from Shasta Dam. Shasta Lake is a major raptor habitat and home to many Bald Eagles. It is not an unusual sight to see and Bald Eagle take a Trout from the lake only to be attacked in flight by several Osprey causing the BE to drop the fish so that the Osprey may retrieve it. In my opinion the Osprey are the "thugs" of the Raptor class.
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Took these a while back and never got around to posting them, ran across them again today and thought I'd see if someone could help me figure out what kind of bird/raptor this is, some photos are in a set, but there are a few more which aren't in set that show a second bird flying in around tree, assuming it's a parent bird but idk, this bird almost looks to be a hawk of some kind with no head feathers, or does to me anyway. Any help appreciated! Thanks Here is a link that might be useful: Mystery bird pics
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aquilachrysaetos
12 years ago
It is more usual to see an osprey harrassed into dropping it's catch by a BE. Sounds like yours have learned to work together to turn the tables.

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