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Posted by Susan on 20:09:37 10/22/08
I am not an expert, but I was encouraged to report this observation. On Monday, Oct. 20 at about 4 pm, I saw an entirely dark, almost black-colored hawk in the canopy of a tree in my yard in Palmetto Bay. It had a prey item, either a baby bird or maybe a small squirrel (couldn't quite see it, and could not see any remains on the ground) in its talon, and was eating it. It was being screamed at by two blue jays, which attracted my attention in the first place. The hawk was smallish, perhaps the size of a large crow or small raven but stockier. It had no light color markings or speckles anywhere that I could see; particularly none on the head, around the eyes or chest. Everything was dark. The underside of the tail and wings had a slightly less dark color, and I could make out some darker black bars on them. It had a dark bill and very yellow feet. It flew eventually glided away, but I did not get a good look at it in flight. Based on looking in some guide books, I think it was a Short Tailed Hawk, dark morph.
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