With reports of Snowy Owls in the Chicago area (lots of lemmings in Canada last summer meant that there were lots of owls, but now they have to range further south to find food) I have been more aware of big, white birds than before (remember when you didn’t see seagulls this far inland so you didn’t tune them out?), so I was excited to see a big, white raptor, but its neck was too long, its head too small, had dark bands on the top of its wings, and it flew like a hawk. What might it have been?
It was an Osprey. They look mostly white in flight from below.
Maybe. It was only a couple miles from the Fox River, but it was white-white, except for the bands. Wife suggested a Harris’s Hawk, saying their color is variable and we sometimes get them up here, but I think she wasn’t paying attention. Then she suggested it was a Red-Tail, which I’d already considered and haven’t entirely dismissed. They are variable as hell and can get that big. In this case, really big. Almost eagle big. But they infest this area and I almost ignore them.
I see signs all the time made by people searching for lost pets. Oh, your kitty or small dog has gone missing? We have predators around here. Spot was hawk lunch. Then a few months back a Turkey Vulture started hanging out in the neighborhood, apparently subsisting on whatever was left of Spot.
Albino red tailed hawk
That’s the one! Thanks!