Wow! Some of y'all know your raptors! My initial guess was a Chicken Hawk, but I'm not much of an ornithologist (nor a photographer). The Game Warden (GW) said she was guessing it was either a Cooper's hawk or Sharp-shinned hawk. Based on the photos viewed on-line in comparison to the actual bird, I think it is actually a Cooper's hawk.
Now the rest of the story...all raptors in the United States are federally protected. My son and I are both aware of this, as well as the fact that without special permits, you cannot posses any part of the raptor (beaks, talons, even feathers) irrespective of how the bird died. I called the GW to get guidance on how to handle this situation, which was a first for us.
The GW thanked us for calling her, and said to simply put the hawk in the trash for pick-up. I threw her a curve ball by asking if my son, who is a sophomore natural resources management student at Angelo State University, could have the bird to take back to school for a necropsy/dissection performed under the guidance of one of his professors. The GW said that in all of her years of experience, no one had ever asked to do this. Wisely, the GW said she would have to ask her boss, and that she would call us back with their judgement.
A few minutes later, the GW called back to report that her supervisor said that we could not have the hawk because it would require special permits for us to possess the hawk - due to federal protection. The GW said she understood why we made the request, and actually thought it was a pretty cool idea, but the laws are the laws.
Thanks for your responses and guesses. i think it was a refreshing change from the regular snake/fish ID requests.
Regards,
Dave
