Hawk or Turkey Vulture?

[Emojikitten]

There have been big birds flying around my yard that look like hawks. They're up really high so I can't tell if it's a hawk or something else. How can I tell a predator from a harmless bird from up in the sky?

 

[Chickassan]

Probably vultures they get very high to scope out potential meals. Hawks tend to fly midlevel to low to easily snatch prey. Btw vultures aren't exactly harmless, they will eat chicks and smaller birds if they can.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hawks hold their wings straight out from their sides producing an angle of 180 degrees as measured from wing tip to wing tip through the center of their body.

Turkey Vultures' bodies on the other hand sort of hang down below their wings forming a shallow V

 

[cgmccary]

Probably vultures they get very high to scope out potential meals. Hawks tend to fly midlevel to low to easily snatch prey. Btw vultures aren't exactly harmless, they will eat chicks and smaller birds if they can.

I have an abundance of Turkey Vultures and in more than 50 years, they've never harmed a chicken or chick. Black Vultures, which I see occasionally, have been known to harm chickens but I've never had an attack by them. Red Shouldered Hawks also never attack my birds. The only attacks by aerial predators have been by an occasional Red Tailed Hawk. I have a pair of GHOs, know they can wreck havoc but so far they haven't. The last few years I've kept LGDs which keep all predators out.

 

[diamondsilkies]

I don't have Turkey Vultures in my yard, but have lots of Red Tailed Hawks and a couple Cooper's Hawks. When the hawks come to my yard, they usually don't circle, but perch in trees or on telephone poles and watch, then swoop from perch to perch, scouting out the yard. If you have binoculars or something similar, Turkey Vultures are easy to tell apart because they have no feathering on their heads.

 

[Emojikitten]

Thanks guys! This really helped.