I'm sure this should be an easy ID for the regular bird photographers. I spotted this guy while out for a bike ride Sunday afternoon. He was sitting in a tree right next to the bike trail, less than 10 feet from me. I had just enough time to fire off 2 shots before he flew off.
Steve, it sure looks like a first year red tailed hawk to me. They don't get their characteristic red tail until well into their 2nd full year. Additionally these birds have little fear of humans their first year. Their eyes will darken as they get older too. The head and beak shape is different than that of red shouldered hawks. Coopers hawks will be considerably smaller and sleeker than this one that you captured (nice shot btw). I've taken a few hundred pics of a pair of first year red tail hawks throughout this summer. A couple of them are in my profile.
I saw these birds yesterday morning in some bushes in a suburban neighborhood. I live in western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh). It's cold here but no snow yet, and yesterday was actually rather mild -- mid 40's (F).
Anyway, these were small birds, sparrow-sized I would say. The one I that I saw up close had a dull blue back and white belly (or was it a white back and a blue belly?). Looked like some brown or orange under the wing. And a black mask/face. Short beaks, I think -- nothing particularly prominent about them.
They were plump but nimble little things. Any ideas?
Hawks are sometimes really hard to identify because they have very similar markings sometimes...Great shot, those stupid birds never sit long enough or in the right spot for me. :P Did you get him in flight? Their shape when flying helps to identify them as well...but from the shot you have, I would also say it's an immature Red Tail. The beak on the Red Shoulder is very dark on the end even for the immatures and stays dark into adulthood where the Red Tail is not as dark and gets a bit lighter with age.
If the bird had flown over, we could have clearly identified the bird as a red-tailed hawk by the dark patagial marks on the underside of the wings. (dark mark on leading edge of wing) Red-tailed hawks are the only North American Hawk that has dark patagial marks.
Looks like a Cooper's to me. There are a fair amount of them 'round central Pa.
A Cooper's Hawk would have a longer gray tail with broader bars and a white tip. Would not expect to see a red tail on a Cooper's Hawk. But, you could be right. We just don't have quite enough visual clues.
