# Is this a peregrine falcon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 24, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647 "2006-11-24T15:36:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/1 "2006-11-24T15:36:45Z")
[This bird](http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r21/mack_049/peregrine.jpg) has been frequenting my mom’s back yard. I finally got a shot of it where I could make out some of the markings. This is in Northern Virginia. To me it looks like it could be a Peregrine Falcon.
Any thoughts?
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### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/2 "2006-11-24T15:46:54Z")
Sorry, but no. I think it is a juvenile red-tailed hawk. [Link](http://mishami.image.pbase.com/u43/muskrat/upload/27853664.QERedTailedHawkFramed.jpg). One of the bird experts should be along shortly and make a positive ID.
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### Author:  [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/3 "2006-11-24T15:48:03Z")
[QUOTE=mack]
[This bird](http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r21/mack_049/peregrine.jpg) has been frequenting my mom’s back yard. I finally got a shot of it where I could make out some of the markings. This is in Northern Virginia. To me it looks like it could be a Peregrine Falcon.
Any thoughts?
[/QUOTE]
Dont’t think so, the colours and markings are different, although it might be a juvenile I suppose - IANAO. From [here](http://uk.geocities.com/bristolornithologicalclub/AvonGorgePeregrines.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> Both adults have blue grey upper parts, white or creamy under parts with varying degrees of horizontal barring. The head has a dark ‘helmet’ with a noticeable ‘moustache’ below the large eye.
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### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/4 "2006-11-24T15:49:16Z")
Let’s try another[link](http://www.alangrinberg.com/photos/pow/200604/2081_RedTail.jpg).
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### Author:  [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/5 "2006-11-24T16:02:15Z")
We’re thinking it could also be a Marsh Hawk
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/6 "2006-11-24T16:32:53Z")
My dad, the amateur ornithologists, says it’s either a immature Red Tailed, immature Red Shouldered or a Swainson’s Hawk.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/7 "2006-11-24T16:45:12Z")
There are at least two species of hawk that frequent the immediate vicinity of my place here in rural eastern North Carolina – one a larger bird given to gliding/soaring, whose normal flight style and feathering make his wingtips look “ragged” in level gliding flight, and the other a smaller, more compact, more acrobatic bird that sometimes does “dive bomber” hunting. I’ve been unable to get a good non-sillhouette view of them close enough to identify them by markings.
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### Author:  [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/8 "2006-11-24T16:52:52Z")
I’m just a amateur birdwatcher, but from my trusty Peterson’s:
1. It’s unlikely to be a peregrine. They have curved black “sideburns” dropping from beneath their eyes (both adults and immature birds); your bird doesn’t.
2. It’s unlikely to be an immature red-tailed. They have a patch of unflecked white on their breast while your bird has a flecked breast.
3. It’s unlikely to be a marsh hawk (northern harrier). The males are greay and the females seem to be much more heavily streaked (see the pic on [this page](http://www.birdsasart.com/bn93.htm) for a comparison). Immature harriers are russet underneath.
4. I’m guessing an immature northern goshawk. Peterson’s says: note pale stripe over eye and zig-zag tail banding. Your bird seems to have both, but the picture is a little washed out so it’s hard to tell. Here’s [another pic](http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/nogo01.html) of an immature northern goshawk.
5. If it’s not that, it’s probably an immature cooper’s hawk or sharp-shinned hawk. A big difference among the three is size. Sharp-shinned hawks are 10" to 14", cooper’s hawks are 14" to 20", and northern goshawks are 20" to 26". Yours looks large, but it’s hard to tell from the picture.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/9 "2006-11-24T17:02:25Z")
Keep in mind there’s literally TONS of different Red-Tailed color schemes in this country-
depending on whether this bird is a resident or winter migrant it could have come from any
eastern population. Everything about the body shape/heft, head, legs, etc. (the
so-called “jizz” of the bird) screams Red-Tailed to me.
It was a peregrine which flew through my backyard (15 years ago this month) which got me
started on well everything which has happened in my life since then.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/10 "2006-11-24T23:56:13Z")
It appears to me to be an immature Red-tailed Hawk. Compare this image:
[http://www.smm.org/warnernaturecenter/media/images/programs/red\_tailed\_hawk.jpg](http://www.smm.org/warnernaturecenter/media/images/programs/red_tailed_hawk.jpg)
It’s definitely a Buteo, the group that includes Red-tailed, Broad-winged, and Red-shouldered Hawks. It’s definitely not a falcon (Peregrine or other species), lacking the facial markings found in these species, and is too heavily-built and short-tailed to be an accipiter (Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, or Goshawk) or a harrier.
It is also too heavily built to be a Red-shouldered Hawk; it’s markings appear to me to be more typical of Red-tailed Hawk than other likely Buteos in the area.
Red-tailed Hawk is pretty much the default winter raptor in Virginia and the rest of the northeastern species.
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### Author:  [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-peregrine-falcon/381647/11 "2006-11-25T01:15:02Z")
Looks most like the immature Red-Tailed Hawk, especially the head.