Tucson Hawks

I saw 5 large birds together today in the desert behind my house and I believe they were some sort of a hawk. They are predominately dark brown but when in flight you can see a large patch of white on their back above their dark tails (which is covered by their wings when stationary). What kind of hawk could these be? Thanks.

If you see a group of large birds like that, they will usually be vultures, and this sounds like what you're describing. Vultures, easily confused with hawks, tend to fly around a particular area when they see something at the ground that is hours away from death so they can scavenge it.

My guess is that this is probably what you saw.

Thanks for your reply. These birds were much too beautiful to be vultures. I got pretty close to them (20 ft) while they were temporarily perched on a utility wire. After doing an internet search I found that they could be Coopers Hawks. I've just never seen 5 in a group. Usually I'd only see two hawks together. It was such an awesome sight!

That's really cool! You're right, two is about the most I've ever seen together also. I'm glad you got a close-up look, because from a distance (seeing them flying around high in the sky), it's difficult to tell the difference.

If you were able to get a picture, send it in to us :-).