Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk study

Juv RTHA study. The main reason the identification specialists always talk the patagial mark, belly band, dark hood and scapulars is because not all Red-tailed Hawks have red-tails.

A Fierce survivor, sitting along the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in 2008.

This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk has made it through its first winter. It was sitting along stateline road or high 131 on the ore/cal border. Looking into the straights drain unit. It was windy and very cold old. We rolled up on the bird from behind and silent, as we powered down the window, the noise of the electric motor turned the bird toward us and we got a good shot off. The tail is banded dark and light brown as opposed to the Adults brick red dorsal and a made faded underside, the tail also has a thin black band at the sub terminal and sometimes the terminal has a translucent edge.

 

The juvenile below has the classic 1st year bird's tail, which is much different from the adult described above.