We observed this bird soaring high over south White Rock Creek on a beautiful Saturday morning. We could see that this was a bird of prey, but it was clearly not one of the usual suspects. It was too elegant to be a Red-tailed Hawk or a Red-shouldered Hawk, too big to be a Mississippi Kite, and had too short of a tail to be a Cooper’s Hawk.
These pictures are not very good. They were taken at extremely long distance, and quality results were not expected. But, there was something unusual about this bird (at least in my experience), and I just couldn’t identify it in the field. I took these photographs hoping they would at least be good enough that I could compare them against my reference material back at the house.
They were. This is the first Osprey I have ever observed in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. An exciting find!
Observations Details
| County | – | Dallas | |
| City | – | Dallas | |
| Date | – | Sep 22, 2012 | |
| Time of Day | – | Morning | |
| Temperature | – | Hot (greater than 89°F/32°C) | |
| Weather | – | Partly Cloudy | |
| Habitat | – | Recreation-Park | |
| Type of Behavior | – | Flying | |
| Gender | – | Uncertain | |
| Maturity | – | Adult | |
| Observer | – | Chris Jackson |
Awesome photos! Great job I never would have spotted it.
great id, you said you thought it might be an osprey.
Thanks, guys. Good times Saturday morning. Enjoyed every minute of it.
This Saturday morning, I observed a very large bird atop our neighbor’s chimney. This neighbor lives on top of a hill (we are across the street, more on the side of the hill. The bird had some white on its head and breast area and back and wings were black. The only bird it resembled in my bird book was an Osprey. Could I be right about this?
It could be an Osprey. They are definitely present in the metroplex, but they tend to stay close to large bodies of water (the river and reservoirs).
Another possibility, based on description, is the Crested Caracara. Here’s a link to more info. See what you think…
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview