Hello! Can some one help and tell me what kind of hawk this is (apologies for the photos, but it was the best we could do). There have been 2 frequenting our Beaumont house. They have been having a good feed of the swarm of sparrows in our back yard. My guess is a broad winged hawk, immature? He was perched in the lower branches of a spruce tree for about 20 minutes this afternoon, but I was unable to get a picture.
Thanks for the pictures of the hawk. As mentioned in your post on Aug.27, you have 2 hawks in your area. With your description of the location & behavior it is evident these are seperate species. Starting with your photos which are a classic field guide photo of an adult Swainson's Hawk. This is a mainly Prairie species with a few traveling as far north as Peace River in some years. Edmonton is approaching the northern edge of its distribution in Alberta with them still nesting aprrox. 90km north of here. In Edmonton & south they are the most common buteo with many nesting in suburbs of the city. They are not shy compared to Red-tailed & routinely hunt next to major roadways. The second hawk described is not related in any way. There are 3 possible speices & without a photograph or detailed description of the size, pattern on breast, back along with length of wings in relation to tail I cannot do much. What I can tell you is that the most probable in either a Sharp-shinned Hawk (accipiter) or Merlin (falcon). The other less likely would be Cooper's Hawk. If you contact the Wildbird General Store on Wed. or Friday's with a description I can probaly figure it out for you.
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