Sunday, March 11, 2012

Bird of Prey

Day 70;
       Today I took a little detour on a trip to the PSU stadium and discovered the following bird at the end of the parking lot, closer to the building.  It took me a few minutes to realize that this bird had a dead smaller bird in its claws.  I'm not sure what this bird is, thought at first it was a Peregrin, but it doesn't look like the pictures of Peregrins online.  I also thought it might be a hawk and again, from the pictures I saw online, I could not make an identification.  If you know, please comment below.   Okay, after a little more research, I'm back, I think it is a Falcon.   Someone else suggested that this may be a sharp shin hawk and if so I think it is a juvenile sharp shin hawk. 
Any guesses?
     A person from the Birders NH Bird list has identified this as a female Merlin eating a cedar waxwing.  After looking at online pictures of Merlins, I think that that is correct.  Thank you NHBirders for viewing and identifying.



Side view

Side,back view



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