Hawk eyeballing my dogs-HELP!!! - Page 3

I'm beginning to think this may be a golden eagle in my yard.(this is NOT the
actual bird, but it is what the bird looks like)I've been through all sorts
of websites with hawks, and see none that are similar to the bird in my yard,
which is dark on the bottom. I guess thats why I thought it was a turkey buzzard
due to the darkness of it's under feathers. We also have several bald
eagles these days in our area that can be seen soaring the river banks. They
really give you a nice feeling when you spot the bald eagles. If this
does turn out to be an eagle that has chosen to live in let's say, "my neck of
the woods", my little dogs are going to have to resign themselves to the smaller
run in the back yard!!!!<

A Turkey Vulture has a fleshy head,  if the size is similar it could be a Golden Eagle, but if you see Bald Eagles then this could more likely be an immature, juvenile Bald Eagle.  If you see a Golden Eagle in the sun light you will know where they got the name.  There are other large dark Hawks but they would not compare to an Eagle in size and there has to be markings.
Eagles are usually pretty shy around humans, they like to catch fish and will take ducks on the wing.
I think your little dog Toto could be on the menu but it would be at the bottom of the list.
This time of year the adults would be teaching the juveniles how to do Eagle stuff....fly, fish, all the little tricks for survival including a careful respect for humans.
I agree it does give you a special feeling to see these great birds in action.
The shape of the wings and how they fly will tell you from a distance if its an Eagle.
Plus there are markings, they all have some sort of markings, none are a solid color.
Either way I think your wise to keep an eye on the pooch for a while.
And lucky to have such creatures to look at.

    The DEC just confirmed that the bird is a young Bald Eagle. It has been down the road stealing someone's chickens.
The river is only about 3 miles or less from my house over the mountain. He told me there are several breeding pairs of Bald Eagles living all along the river.
     Though not the eagles choice for food, it IS possible it would grab a small dog. so no more big yard for the little dogs. Better safe than sorry!
    I havn't seen the bird for a few days, but it is deer hunting here in NY, so hunters are EVERYWHERE. I just hope no idiot shot that bird. Hopefully it went back to the river!!!

  
This is a young Bald Eagle, so, I was pretty close on my guess as to what it might be!

Hello.

Yes,  such a bird can MOST DEFINITELY snatch a small3 lbs dogorother creature and IT WILL if given a chance.

So, of course, you have to be extra cautious.

With all that being said, you CANNOT harass it, it is a protected animal and ifa game warden or some other official catches you, it will be big trouble. And I mean BIG trouble ($$$-wise) for you. Here in Texas, game wardens have on paper more power than police officers when it comes to entering somebody house,searching a car etc...

No BB gun or scarecrow or anything, the bird will leave when it decides "slim pickins", nothing here for me.

If you are really worried, call a game warden for your area, they will give you the best and most helpful advice.

Come to think of it... if I can find it, I'll post pictures of a hawk that was messign around my back yard a few years ago, right around this time of the year that zapped and snatched a squirrel in my very own back yard, and ate it on the spot, maybe 10, 15 feet from the house on the ground.

All I can do is watch and grab my camera... First,it's illegal tomess with them at all, second is  my own opinion... well, a guy gotta it, he caught his lunch fair and square - who am I to mess with him and take his food away? and Third, the squirrel was dead anyway,by the time I cought wind of it through the bedroom window and fourth the squirrel was stupid, all his buddies scurried to the trees and he still ran happily on the ground collecting and digging accorns.

I'll see if I can find the pictures and videos I took of it, my guess it was a hawk. If somebody here knows more about birdsof prey,as I am sure some do, maybe they can identify it for me.

Okay... Although I have a million things to do right now, my curiosity got better of me, so I went digging for old photos. These were taken in October or November 2006.

Here goes:

 lol

I love it when my after-lunch dessert walks right up to the table!

Adi,
You need a way to lessen the size or your pictures...lol
I use photoshop to reduce file size and parameters.

I think maybe a Sharp Shinned or Coopers Hawk, possibly immature.
The size would decide , they look much alike.
Where were these photos taken?
What area of the country?


Moons.