OK experts: Would I be crazy if I told you a short-tailed hawk just killed one of my chickens? I live in central Maine - the hawk was large - the size of a red-tailed if not larger. It had a bright white belly and a dark dark grey back. The range for short tails does not seem to match up with Maine in the sites I found.
?? What could it have been? Doesn’t seem to match up with a listing of hawks found in Maine - maybe a Swainson’s hawk…maybe?
Seems unlikely:
But I’m not sure what else to suggest. Coopers Hawk might possibly be expected to kill a chicken in Maine in Feb., and has a light-colored belly. But it also has a notably long tail.
Indeed - the Short-Tailed Hawk would be rare north of Florida, and pretty much impossible in Maine in winter.
Any of these look familiar?
http://www.whatbird.com/birdexpert/StateColorSize/3/6415/137/birdexpert.aspx
I would say either a Northern Goshawk or Northern Harrier. Male from either of the descriptions. The breast looked snow white, but it could have been finely striped - I was 30-40 feet away and rather distressed when it took off.
Hope he gets indigestion.
Bantams or full sized chickens? A sharp shinned hawk has a gray back, medium sized hawk. Can you make a few hollow brush piles near their foraging areas so they’ll have an escape route?
Goshawk would be in Maine and likely to go after available chickens - but it, too, has a long tail.
Chicken-killing would be very strange behavior for a harrier.
Wasn’t me, I swear.
Ah, of course not man - we know you’re not up to it. That’s why your name is SparrowHawk, not ChickenHawk :D.
Excellent photos.
I’m going to go with Goshawk based on the photos and your comments. It could have had a long tail - I was guessing based on color - dark grey back and white belly. The chicken was a larger breed - Ameraucana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameraucana
The hawk seemed to know what it was doing - there are places to hide in the pen - but it waited until it was time for the chickens to go back to the coop (dusk) - and they don’t have any cover for about 10 feet. It’s a gauntlet of death apparently. After I cleaned away the remains - I herded the rest of the chickens one by one into the coop - they all stopped and looked at the pile of feathers. It was a little sad. Perhaps they were suspicious of a trick.
That’s the guy! Stronger than he looks.
