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Project Noah Nature School
Buteo lineatus
16-24" (41-61 cm). W. 3'4" (1 m). A large, long-winged hawk with white barring on dark wings, rusty shoulders, pale underparts barred with rust, and narrowly banded tail. In flight shows translucent area near tip of wing, visible from below. Young birds streaked below; best distinguished from young Red-tailed Hawks by somewhat smaller size, narrower tail, longer, narrower wings, and absence of white chest.
Mixed wooded and open area along the St. Johns River.
Hi Joan, The hawk you have is actually a Red-Shouldered Hawk not a Cooper's Hawk. The checkered wing and lack of dark grey-brown color on it's head are two field marks for the Red-Shouldered. I hope that helps. Here's a link to compare it to the Cooper's Hawk: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coope....
I guess we were lucky. The bugs on the river were not too bad. We definitely needed the bug spray, though, the day we hiked Hontoon Island. Very happy mosquitos there.
timing and bug spray!! So important!
Thnx for sharing your interesting encounters!
We stayed, for the most part, on the St. Johns, where we saw quit a few alligators, some quite large. There were not as many other animals as expected, but we still saw an interesting assortment, and the area along the river was beautiful.
Hi Joan,inspite of the bug attack I had , I loved every minute of it. I came back with the feeling that i did not explore it to my heart's content. I did go there with anxiety about anacondas and alligators. Also we did not go to Meritt island at the right time and therefor missed out a lot . inspite of that i loved every minute there and now i miss Florida!! i feel bad though that the gators are a threatened species . They are of eco importance, I loved the mangroves too!!
Spotted on May 17, 2014
Submitted on Jun 3, 2014
