Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Brevard County, Florida, USA.
I suspect great blue, just based on size.
Large bird landed in my backyard and all the birds and squirrels ran off. It appeared to be black and white or brown and white. He lingered for about 5 minutes then took off. I sent some of the pics to the Audubon society & 1 response was : coopers or sharp shinned and a 2nd response was: body shape and proportion of head and length of tail, Cooper’s hawk or Goshawk. It’s thinner than a soaring hawk. It has the thinner body and long tail of an accipiter (woodland hawk). The head is in good proportion to the body, so it’s not a sharp shinned hawk (they have weenie teeny heads). The lack of a rusty scalloping pattern on the chest makes me lean toward goshawk, but it could always be a juvenile transitioning into adult coloration.
All black bird; the bill is large with a curvature, long tail and dark brown irises; found across the Northern Hemisphere and is widely distributed; adults can reach lengths of about 25 inches and can weigh 2.6 pounds, may be the heaviest of the passerine birds; can live up to 21 years in the wild; known to be highly intelligent, usually travel in mated pairs; they are referred to as omnivores and opportunistic; begin to court at an early age, females lay 3 to 7 eggs and tend to incubate between 18 to 21 days
Fort Wadsworth
Immature