Expert: Julia Booth - 9/24/2008

Question
Hi Julia! Hope you can answer this as it is driving me nuts. I went to the whatbird site you recommended in an answer to the woman near Traverse City Michigan (I had done a search on "large bird with orange breast"). I looked at pictures of at least a hundred birds on whatbird, but could not find any that looked quite like what I saw. I had to give up because the site went down.

Regarding location and landscape/habitat: I live in Porter County Indiana about 3 miles from Lake Michigan. (We are 50 miles east of Chicago and about 10 miles from the state of Michigan). We live on 20 acres consisting mostly of a large field (with an occasional medium-sized tree and cluster of fruit trees in the field). The field is bordered by a narrow bit of woods. Across the street is a large, densely wooded area with a creek. About 1/2 mile down the road there's a marsh.  

Around Noon today (Sept. 24), I looked out the window and saw a medium to large bird with a white head. The white head and size of the bird caught my attention. The bird had its back to me and was on the ground just looking into the distance. Then it turned and pulled a long, fat white worm out of the ground. The bird was at least as big as a large crow and possibly as large as a hawk. (We get red-tailed hawks all the time but they never come close to the house so it is hard for me to know for sure if this was as big as a hawk.)

The white head reminded me of footage I have seen of bald eagles, but the body color and markings were wrong to be a bald eagle. I suppose the head could have been off-white or a very light gray, but it seemed white to me because I have never seen a bird(except in photos) with such a light head. The bird briefly turned to face me and I was struck by the orange breast (similar in color to a robin or maybe lighter than a robin's breast.) I know the phrase "robin red breast" but to me it looks more orange than red. Everyone sees colors differently, which is why I am going into detail. To me the only true red I have seen in person on a bird is the scarlet tanager. To me a male cardinal is red - but what I consider tomato red - whereas the tanager is more fire-engine red. The bird I saw had a breast (and belly too I think) that was the color that tomato soup gets when you add cream to it. When the bird had its back to me its wings were brown with white "speckles". The tail was not long. I am pretty sure the tail was square-shaped (squared edges). The tail was wide, but not unusually wide. The tail did not appear to fan out - it just came straight back. When the bird had its back to me, the way the wings were folded across the bird's back reminded me of an eagle, hawk, or owl (but the head was not shaped like an owl's at all). The wings were large - the bird flew away quickly around the side of the house so I did not get a good enough look to tell if it flew like a hawk. I did not hear it make any sounds.

I did not get a good look at the beak. I think the beak must have been like that of a hawk or crow, because any other size or shape beak probably would have jumped out at me. I did not see the color of the legs. I think it had medium length legs for the size of the bird. I am not sure of the length from tail to beak, but I think it would have to be between 12" and 20" or so. Sorry I cannot be more specific about the size of the body or type of beak - I was mainly trying to memorize the color of the head, breast, and wings and the markings so I could look it up.

Based on what I saw on whatbird before the site crashed, I think it was a bird of prey. Most likely some type of hawk, falcon or eagle. It was definitely not an owl or vulture. When I searched Eastern U.S. birds (since I am east of the Mississippi) I did not see this bird. Because of the time of year, perhaps it was migrating. Thanks, Kristi  
P.S. An hour or two before I saw this bird, I heard an unfamiliar bird call. I went outside and a large bird flew off the roof very quickly. I do not know if it was the same bird I saw on the ground later, but it was the right size and I think I briefly saw something rust or orange colored when it first flew off the roof. It flew very fast and got up pretty high very quickly. It would flap its wings a few times and then glide like a hawk for a short time and then flap some more and glide, etc. The sound reminded me of a crow, but it was different somehow. It was an annoying sound like a crow, but the pitch was different (I am tone-deaf, but I believe it was higher pitched than a crow.  

Answer
Let's summarize:

-crow to hawk sized
-was seen eating a worm
-head was light, white or possible pale gray
-you live near water
-breast was orange or burnt sienna in color
-tail was not long, and squared off
-wings were brown with white speckles

You said it was probably a hawk, but are you sure? Because, while a hawk and crow can be similar in size, they are different in body structure. Was it shaped like a bird of prey, or could it have been a shore bird of some sort, like a heron?

I am not coming up with anything that meets all of these descriptions. Very few birds of prey will eat insects. Falcons will catch them while flying. But they don't have the right shape of beak to pull worms out of the ground, which is making me think this is probably something else.

Here is a list of Indiana's birds, if you want to take a look:

http://www.indianaaudubon.org/ibrc/offcklst.htm#accipitridae