Red-tailed hawks?

15 years ago

My sister has red-tailed hawks in her in-town yard and neighborhood all the time, much to her delight. She spotted these two hawks in her back yard this morning.

Are these red-tailed babies?

This is a neat photo because we don't normally see hawks together around here unless they are breeding or nest-mates.

TIA for any help in us being sure they are red-tailed hawks!!

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Comments (13)

feather_z9_ncacoast
15 years ago
Hard to tell from the distance in the shot. I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest Red-shouldered Hawk.
ginni77
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks so much!! I really appreciate your help!! I'll pass the info along to her.
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Elly_NJ
15 years ago
I'm with Feather. And adults?
birding_nut
15 years ago
To me, the dark brown head with the white chin points to Red-tailed Hawk. Also, the barred tails point to these being juveniles.

BN
alan_la
15 years ago
I'm with Feather and Elly.
ginni77
Original Author
15 years ago
We've never seen a red-shoulder in her neighborhood but there are always lots of red-tails. I wonder if that's a clue to what these are? I did find some photos of red-shouldered hawks and they seen to have a different face than these. It's always so hard to tell from one photo.

Thanks everyone for your help!!

Feather, I checked out your artwork. I also am an artist and plan to do more with it now that I'm retired. I have been giving thought to doing bird art as part of my repertoire ...got any good advice?? :))
Elly_NJ
15 years ago
BN, I was going on the speckled shoulders and wings.
feather_z9_ncacoast
15 years ago
ginni; just do what you know in terms of art. *Any* art. If you do what you know, and focus on that, then you will be more relaxed about what you do. I can't draw the finer details like I once did so am very reluctantly giving up the art in favor of photography. When I do draw, it's much larger works now, with much different media than I grew used to doing. I miss the finer detail, but I have to preserve my wrists (carpal tunnel). There are several exercises for my wrists that I do to keep the pressure off, but I haven't gotten back into drawing since the diagnosis a few years back. Glad you like my work. Wish it could continue :)
ginni77
Original Author
15 years ago
Feather, I'm also into photography. (Altho you can't tell it by the photos I am posting on this forum!! LOL) I just got a new zoom lens and I'm learning how to use it now. I hope to get lots of GOOD photos of birds, someday soon!

I'm sorry you suffer from carpal tunnel. I have it too, but mildly enough that I can still draw. I'm planning on doing some bird drawings with graphite pencil, colored pencil, and water color. Those are my mediums of choice these days (I gave up oils and acrylics years ago).

Did you do your artwork from photos or just from memory? I have to have a model or photo or I can't seem to get things right and I doubt that I can get a bird to sit still long enough to draw it! LOL

Re: the hawks

Thanks so much everyone for your input. I'm just not sure. I have seen photos of juvie red-tailed hawks that had lots of spots on their backs. To me the eyes don't look as hooded as the eyes of a red-shouldered hawk, but I would have to bow to your opinions because I've never seen one in person, just going by the photos I've seen! I'm on the lookout for more hawks...there's just something so cool about the raptors!!
birding_nut
15 years ago
Well, I am still going with Red-tailed Hawks. Check out the link below to a pic I found showing an immature red-tailed hawk with heavily speckled wings and white throat.

To me, these really don't look like Red-shouldered Hawks. I have never seen a red-shouldered with such dark brown heads contrasting with a stark white chin.

BN

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}
birding_nut
15 years ago
Here is another picture showing a different immature red-tail with heavily speckled wings, white throat, but a lighter brown head. Except for the dark brown head of the two birds in the photo above, this bird looks just like them.

BN

Here is a link that might be useful:
tmff
13 years ago
I agree with BN- these are a pair of Red-tailed Hawk younglings (at the time). Red-shouldered Hawks do not show a white throat like this, but that is a Red-tailed mark.
tmff
13 years ago
It's no wonder there is so much confusion when IDing hawks, especially juveniles. I did a Google search for images to use and found several that were labeled Red-tailed hawk that were indeed other species (usually Red-shouldered Hawks). There is so much crap on the web. Good grief.

Anyway, here is a for sure image of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. The juveniles do show a significant amount of white mottling on the upper wings. I see it near my home every year (in my neck of the woods, each Red-tailed territory borders another. I see upwards of a dozen of them in a one hour drive). Notice the white throat and lack of streaking on upper chest. This is what I see in the original photo (above).