Expert: Julia Booth - 7/25/2008

Question
Hi, I'm in central Pennsylvania and this morning I've been hearing out of my office window a bird cry that I'm fairly sure is some kind of bird of prey. It reminds me of when you hear a falcon or hawk in a movie give a piercing call from a great height. (I know that's no indication of what it really is, but I'm just trying to explain as best I can.) We have a lot of red-tailed hawks in the area, but I've never actually heard one, so I'm wondering what other possibilities there might be? Thanks.

Answer
Here is a list of the birds of prey that live in your area. I can't really tell you what you heard since that describes most raptors. You can look at the list and listen to soundbytes and take it from there. ENature.com has an excellent collection of audio for ID purposes.

If you want to go by probability -the Red Tail is probably your bird.


___ Turkey Vulture
___ Osprey
___ Bald Eagle
___ Northern Harrier
___ Sharp-shinned Hawk
___ Cooper's Hawk
___ Northern Goshawk
___ Red-shouldered Hawk
___ Broad-winged Hawk
___ Red-tailed Hawk
___ Rough-legged Hawk
___ Golden Eagle
___ American Kestrel
___ Merlin
___ Peregrine Falcon