Wednesday Wings: Weaselhead and More

Tony LePrieur took the photos below on March 1, 2014.

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Horned Lark, from outside the city.

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Gray Partridge, from outside the city.

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A very cold Common Goldeneye from Fish Creek Park.

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Brown Creeper, Weaselhead.

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Pileated Woodpecker female, Weaselhead.

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House Finch male, Weaselhead.

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Golden-crowned Kinglet, Weaselhead.

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Golden-crowned Kinglet, Weaselhead.

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Coyote, Weaselhead.

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Finally, an ID challenge: At first glance I assumed this bird was a Merlin, but something didn’t quite look right. If not a Merlin, what do you think it is, and why?

7 thoughts on “Wednesday Wings: Weaselhead and More

  1. Anyway, I came here looking for advice about feeding Robins and others who may have arrived expecting Spring. What do you think?

    • Robins, Starlings, Bluebirds and some other early arrivals will eat a lot of berries in early spring. If you want you can put out whole cranberries for the robins.

  2. We saw something like this just near 48th Ave & Northmount Dr this afternoon. It seemed too large for a Kestrel but I didn’t get a good look at it. Flight was kind of Kestrel-like. it was being chased by three flickers, two magpies and a crow.

  3. Very difficult with the branch shadows & no comparison for size. Could it possibly be an immature Prairie Falcon? Long white eyebrows & feathers over feet. Although it appears bars on tail are not parallel.

  4. Is it a northern goshawk, an immature one? (white eyebrow, fluffy white undertail coverts, fine white lines between bands on the tail)

    • The bird in the photo does appear to be a juvenile Northern Goshawk. I thought it looked a lot like a Merlin, but the eye colour is wrong. Merlins have dark eyes and these appear to be reddish. Juvenile accipiters have red eyes, and the only one with a white eyebrow line is the Goshawk. The other field marks you mention also fit for Goshawk.

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