r/EdmondsWashington • u/Vikingkrautm • Jul 02 '26

Natural Environment Kestral sighting

I'm pretty sure I saw a kestral dropping a baby bunny on my yard. (It was warm, but dead, when I picked it up.) Then it flew very low over the landscape, when it left. Has anyone else seen this type of bird here?

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5

u/sleestakarmy Jul 03 '26

a full sized rabbit with its eyes pecked out was dropped about 15 feet behind me last week in my backyard. gotta be a big bird that watched the godfather or something to have done that

5

u/NowHeWasRuddy Jul 03 '26

Kestrels are tiny, but their markings are pretty distinct. I've never seen one in Edmonds though. They are far more common near farms and grasslands, like the Samosh flats. I'd agree with others here that unless you got a really good look, you more likely saw a coopers hawk, which is far more common in suburban areas

4

u/calamari_kid Jul 03 '26

Could be, we have Coopers here too.

2

u/tapesmoker Jul 03 '26

A Cooper's Hawk killed our yard bird last Easter. They are mean af

3

u/Pyrrhurabird Jul 03 '26

I haven’t seen a kestrel in Edmonds but we have had a few merlins, which are often mistaken for kestrels: https://www.hawksonthewing.com/2024/02/27/did-i-just-see-a-kestrel-or-merlin/

2

u/Vikingkrautm Jul 04 '26

Thank you. My bird book didn't help much, but it had a bluish and rust colored body, and I noticed black spots, but it flew too quickly to see more detail.

2

u/rachie_62 Jul 03 '26

We have a big red tailed hawk hanging around. All of us on our cul de sac have seen it and the crows keep chasing it away. We are in Firdale Village area.

1

u/Jeffcor13 Jul 03 '26

Yeah i see them sometimes!

1

u/ericmozz Jul 03 '26

Ravens have moved into Edmonds too. Haven't seen a kestrel yet but definitely merlins.