Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone...we have a pair of these unknown raptors in our backyard and I finally managed to get some photographs. They're sort of hard to see and they're gigantic but that's the only way you can see the bird. Anyway, I got a few front shots and a back shots of one of them.

The site is http://convicttang.tripod.com/

In case you can't see, here are some characteristics:
- a dark brown head that fades into a white breast with little dark feather marks
- thin legs but I'm not sure what color or what the talons are like
- the bottom of the tail is white, the backside of the bird however is dark brown
- the beak appears to be short compared to other birds of prey

I've tried to guesstimate what it is, and I'm thinking sharp shinned hawk. I posted two photographs on the bottom of sharp shinned hawks.

PLEASE tell me what this bird is! Thank you so much!

Based on the size of the bird alone, I can pretty much say that it is not a sharp-shinned hawk. They are much smaller (about the same size as a large common crow). Red-tails and Red-shoulders are much large birds and fit color wise, but the band pattern I am seeing on tail, the look of a long length of the tail (due to what appears to be short wings), and the apparent 'leggy' look of the legs seems more characteristic for a Cooper's Hawk. The brownish color of the bird rather than the blueish gray means it would be a young cooper not a fully mature adult.
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Wyvern