Bird impression in the snow (falcon?)

[Trevor]

A friend took these pictures in his bark yard. There is paragrin falcon hanging around his yard.
I thought they looked like the bird swooped down to take a mouse or other small critter.

[mastercaster]

My guess is that it's probably an owl.

MC

[Pat32rf]

No tracks or feathers around that might indicate the victim? We have watched Hawks hit smaller birds and the feathers fly literally fly. Might also have been blown away by the. Wind....

[DGearyFTE]

That looks a lot like a turkey touched down either on the way to a roost in a tree or further afield. I spotted one flying yesterday morning. He was really working at it.

[JBen]

An owl, almost certainly.
If you've ever seen an Owl take things they are pretty ham fisted about it, they hit fast and come down hard, and they leave impressions in the snow like that all the time/often.

[JBen]

Great Grey a split second before leaving such an impression.


This Barred probably did more damage to the bird feeder trying to smoke what ever it was after, than anything. Rang it, like a teen with a baseball ball bat vs a mail box.


A Red Tail which can be just as lethal being a little more delicate (right word?)

[Hunter John]

I found this on a hike . It was a redtail as I saw him fly off when I interrupted his lunch. Not much left of the squirrel.

[rick_iles]

Sharp shinned Hawks are notorious for hanging around back yard bird feeders. I've seen them take birds and leave similar marks.

[JBen]

Usually leaving an explosion of feathers and what not before flying off Rick.





Theres no "real" way to know for sure.
Would help know what it hammered. Owls can and do hunt by sound and are uniquely equipped to detect voles and what not under the snow. I think that's why they often leave imprints like this, with their talons plunging down into the snow and their wings breaking the impact.
Hawks are visual

[Hunter John]

Sharp shinned Hawks are notorious for hanging around back yard bird feeders. I've seen them take birds and leave similar marks.

I get sharpies but mostly Coopers hawks. This one a first year female got a mourning dove.