Howard,

Recently we've had a couple of hawks or falcons in the area around my office building.  I believe they have nested on top of a 10 story building across the street and come over to our building in search of prey.

I haven't seen them close enough to determine if they are hawks or peregrine falcons.

The coloring is goldish brown with reddish splash of color on the back towards the tail. 

Size is hard to judge but I would say over 18 inch wing span.

We are in LA area and I know the peregrine falcons are used to control the pigeon population.

Any ideas what they may be from the description.

By the way, the pigeons are smart.... our building has very reflective glass and twice a pigeon being chased has headed towards our building and turned at the last moment.  Both times the falcon/hawk crashed into the window.  Didn't hurt it, it's still flying.   The pigeon got away both times.

Not having seen one it's hard to tell what it is. It's most likely a juvenile red tailed hawk or a Cooper's hawk. If I were a betting man I'd put my money on the latter, as they don't fly as well as a red tailed hawk. It might be a little small for a Peregrine, plus I think it would be a little unusual for a Peregrine to crash into a window, as they are amazing hunters/fliers. Plus, what you describe doesn't match their hunting style. They dive at over 200mph to catch their prey. If one would have hit the window in a dive it would probably come right on through!

I looked up my bird book and an 18" wing span would be a small hawk or falcon like a Sharp-shinned hawk (the color is wrong, they have red on their chest but not on their back) or a small and common falcon called an American Kestrel.  I would say a kestrel because the size and coloring are about right but a pigeon seems like a big meal for one.  But pigeons are also somewhat slow and really common, so I could see a kestel deciding they were easy picking.  A pigeon would be slightly larger than a kestrel.

Peregrine Falcons have a wingspan of 36 to 44" and are much larger than a pigeon.

Thanks for the feedback....

The City of LA in the 80's had a real pigeon problem and contracted with owners of a couple of tall buildings to place nesting boxes for peregrine falcon couples. I remember seeing an interview with a CEO, one of the boxes was place outside of his office window and he enjoyed watching the falcons and their offspring.

I believe he even had a webcam placed so other folks could enjoy.

Anyway, the pigeon problem still exists, so I think it was more of a political ploy than anything else.

I'm wondering if the falcon/hawk got confused by it's own image in the glass and turned at the last moment and just glanced off of the window. It wasn't a loud thunk like if the beak hit first, more of a body hit sound. The windows are almost mirrors.

Also, I'm not sure of the wing span, I've only seen the bird from about a block away.  Looks about 3 times larger than a pigeon, but not as big as a seagull.

-- Edited by thebearII on Wednesday 18th of March 2009 10:50:23 AM

Pigeons have a wingspread of 28" and gulls go from 40" to 58" depending on breed, according to Sibley. Concerning hawk identification, expert birders have told us, that if you can't positively identify the hawk as something else, its a Red-tailed Hawk. They constitute 90% of the hawks seen and their range is just about the entire country.

I was kind of hoping they are red tailed hawks. It's very relaxing to watch them riding the thermals. I've also noticed the ravens aren't staying in the area. We used to have several hanging around the parking lot daily. I haven't seen a raven in a few days.

Today, I finally was able to see the bird up close. It flew within 10 ft of me a couple of times. It is a Peregrine Falcon. I was off in the original coloring it is a dark golden color tail rather than red. Also the wingspan is nearer to 40 inches. The pair have been mating and hunting all day today. They spent a lot of time on top of our building during my lunch hour. At one point it looked as though they were playing tag flying from one telephone pole to the next. First one would land on the top of the pole and the second one would swoop in and tag the other and then they would move on to the next pole. They did this on 5 different telephone poles. I'm pretty sure it was an adult version of tag if you catch my drift. They are beautiful to watch as they soar on the thermals. I did see one of them attack it's reflection in our buildings windows. That solves the mystery of the window strikes.