Is this a Gyrfalcon?

Yorba Linda, CA. August 14th, 2011. 6:15 pm.

This video was posted last August. Since then, the concensus has been that it is a Cooper's Hawk, but the announcement on local news that a Gyrfalcon has been observed in the San Jacinto wilderness area is a proverbial "game changer."

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Raptor
• Falconiforme
• Bird
• of
• Prey
• Gyrfalcon
• Orange
• County
• California
• August
• 2011

[JoeSpondulich]

Again, everything changed when a Gyrfalcon was spotted approximately 20 miles (as the crow flies, pun intended) from where this bird was filmed last August. If birds from AK, Northern Canada, Iceland, and Greenland are deciding to winter in Southern California, the possibilities open up quite large. Explain away a Northern Goshawk, if you are convinced this is an accipiter.  If an Arctic falconiforme can show up in So Cal, a Northern Goshawk is much more likely.

[JoeSpondulich]

Furthermore, this bird was incredibly clumsy when it made an attempt to chase prey birds into the large shrub and the false plum tree to the left (from the camera's viewpoint). Uncharacteristic of a Cooper's Hawk. There were some pictures taken this past weekend of a Cooper's Hawk by two amateur, but expert orinthologists, and the bird was approximately 3 miles away from where this bird was filmed. The two who caught the photos of the Cooper's Hawk said there is no comparison, size-wise.

[JoeSpondulich]

Body is too full to be an accipiter. Especially an immature one. Adult Cooper's Hawks are typically under a pound in body weight. If you look carefully where the video pans back and forth, you can see the size of the bird in perspective to references around it. This bird is around 2.5 to 3 pounds in weight. Gyrfalcons have yellow eyes, cere, and legs. Immature Gyrfalcons have a blue-grey eye. This bird shows a blue-grey eye when it is not looking directly into the setting sun.

[callawayee]

Looks like a Coopers Hawk with the barred tail and brown stripes. Great shots! I think that it's a young one, since the eyes are red in the older birds, as I remember. Ed

[JoeSpondulich]

@callawayee This is the basic conclusion I came to, which I posted on my Facebook page, as I made this video available there as well. I think there is the off chance that it is a red shouldered hawk (immature with maybe just a tinge of rufous on the shoulder), but the western variety typically is redder than the eastern variety, and this bird is just not exuding red. The other possibility would be a sharp-shinned hawk, but this is a crow sized, 1 year old hawk (yes, due to the yellow eyes).

[NordicHealer]

Coopers Hawk. No possibility of it being an immature Red Shouldered, or Sharp Shinned. Red Shouldered hawks are Buteos with DARK eyes and shaped completely different than this Accipiter family Hawk. Sharpies are too small. This is a FEMALE IMMATURE COOPERS HAWK.

[jbm32206]

Not a falcon, the yellow eyes tell you it's a juvenile, and it's a Coopers Hawk

[curtmorgan]

I agree that it is an immature Cooper's Hawk--definitely not a Peregrine.

[jannicemull]

Looks like a Coopers Hawk to me, isn't it gorgeous thank you for sharing it is always great to see the Hawks(in my opinion) thanks again