I have just spotted a really massive bird of prey. It was dark brown with a white speckled underside and his beak looked hooked.

What could it be. His wing span was HUGE!

Ooh I think it was Turkey Vulture. Kewl.

wow!!! I did try to search a bird identifying site but got bored of a white page so gave up!!!!!

Could it have been an osprey???? (took a long time to upload my pic)

Hi AnyDavid. Probably not a turkey vulture in the winter in N.S. They don't usually like the cold weather. They're all down here ! An osprey or an immature eagle more likely. Or possibly even a red tailed hawk.

Nope definately not an Osprey - I have one of those in my garden. I googled and apparantly a Turkey Vulture was seen here in Cow Bay/Cole Harbour (about a 10 min drive from me last weekend) - so maybe this one is on holiday!

Definately not an osprey, not a red tailed hawk - it was too dark and the wingspan was much greater. We do have eagles around here but it wasn't that either.

Sound like an immature Bald Eagle.

There was not that much white on him.

Yes, that gets my vote too - we saw one the other day flying low across the back yard. The wing span was huge but it's head was brown (not white) and the body was speckled.

Anything like this?

Nope - too white. His upper body was completely dark and the underside had very slight white markings.

Being a bit bored, I did some googling. Simon appears to be right...there's never been a turkey vulture sighting in NS between December and March.

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?speci...=12&continue=t

Edit: the link's not quite what I wanted... when you get to the map, click on "totals" to get the monthly distribution.

Was a duck?

Or a de-cloaked Klingon warship?