Boy, those are ACTIVE little babies, Alice! The one keeps flapping his "wings" until he falls over! The adult face is amazing! Almost looks like a primate from some angles! Fun to watch all the seemingly impossible ways they can turn their heads! At the Decorah eagle nest the first egg hatched yesterday and the second today. I haven't seen the babies yet. About the only time the adults get up off the chicks is at the Changing of The Guard and feeding time. Decorah is streamed by USTREAM too, and all the advertising is very disrupting! A few days ago I had Decorah on and they went to an obnoxious ad just as "something" was happening! By the time the ad was over the "something" was over too! Grrr! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Decorah Eagle Cam -- and more!

Hi Gail I have not been on in a while, so glad that your hawks are bonding...such a nice site to see... My RT's have moved down the street I do not see them as often but they do still come around...they are building the nest elsewhere as I have observed them carrying sticks .. This winter I have not been out much with my Hubby being sick I have been otherwise occupied....but things are looking up and I have started getting out and can not wait until spring and watching the RT's is a sure sign....will keep you posted...hopefully the pair will be successful this year...Claire

This is an immature red-tail, probably a male (smaller in size).

I suggest visiting Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All about Birds" webpage. You can listen to the calls of hawks (since you got to hear this suspicious bird's call). That might be the key to IDing this bird. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id The most educated answer I can give is that this is a dark morph red-tailed hawk. Its bill is just too broad to be a red-shouldered hawk (and I have not known red-shouldered hawks plumage to vary that considerably, as red-tailed hawks are known to do). Now the fact that you're in Florida is interesting since dark-morph red-tailed hawks are more known to occur in the Plains and western U.S.(see Harlan's hawks and western red-tailed hawks for images). So, unless this is a falconry bird that escaped, this is probably a rare bird to find in Florida. Would love to hear the opinion of a birding expert. This post was edited by TMFF on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 22:31