They are about ready to fledge. Not far from us a couple of houses are under siege. A pair of red-tailed hawks build a nest in a tree right next to the deck. Not only does the deck get pretty messy, the owners of the house cannot use it, their next door neighbor had a vegetable garden and can't tend it and if they go out the front door, they have to defend themselves with rakes or anything else long, in order to get to the mailbox. They had the problem last year, were allowed to take down the nest after the chicks had left, but they rebuilt this year. They were advised to take down the tree. The owls have left the nest, the loon in Minnesota is still sitting on her eggs and the storks in Germany lost the last baby to hatch, but four was a bit much to raise, even three are hard to feed. A couple of Blue Jays think I am their foster mother and beg every time I go out. Young squirrels were also told to stay here and since 3 days a racoon spends his days sleeping in the big oak. Not to forget the Cardinal who sits twice a day on a dogwood branch next to the backdoor and sings for his peanut. How am I supposed to get any work done?

I don't know much about hawks, but I know they are opportunistic and don't always rely on live catches for their meals...I always see them swooping in on road kill. Perhaps you might try putting a small bit of ground beef out.....but maybe not on the deck itself, possibly somewhere further out in the yard....that way (hopefully) the hawk doesn't associate you with his "find". I know a lot of people won't agree, and that nature should be survival of the fittest...but maybe this hawk just needs a little bit of help to get through. I know I would have a hard time sitting back and watching it suffer.

The only thing with Crossley's Raptor guide is that, for relative beginners, it's photograph overload. Turn to any particular page and one could quickly feel overwhelmed by intricate plumage differences that ultimately jumble together to form one big complex hawk in your memory. Kind of like a library without a card catalog. There's very little you can do other than commit some field marks, flight styles, and behavior to memory. Or, just get good pictures and ask me. :-) Although there are times I have trouble IDing a hawk myself. Depends on how good of a look I can get. I think what else may be helpful is to always know what you might be likely to see in your area. In CT, your Red-taileds are going to be easterns. They pretty much all look the same. You probably have many year-round Red-tailed residents and the guy you photographed up there probably has a mate on a nest right now. A nesting (adult) pair of Red-taileds have the rufous tails. A juvenile (last year's brood) bird will lack a rufous tail and will show brown and white tail bands instead. A clean, lightly marked underside is more indicative of an adult- juvies have more brown markings and look streaky underneath. Some adults are heavily marked too though! Adult Red-taileds will also show a thin dark rim around the back of the underwing. You can see that on the bird you photographed. I recommend Dunne/Sibley/Sutton 'Hawks in Flight, 2nd Edition'. I have to say that I bought the Crossley guide for pleasure rather than purpose. I love the photos! But when I first sat down with it, I could already score very high on the "quizzes" he embedded within it. So, I learned my skills elsewhere. Hawks in Flight was a huge help with that.

Hey Dave- I grew up in Oakhurst and actually went to kindergarten at the Methodist Church. I was up and down Monmouth Rd. at least 6 times today and once I actually glanced up at the steeple remembering the day the put it up!! Very spooky!!! I always am amazed at the amount of birds in our area also. I now am in Shark River Hills (which kind of reminds me of Oakhurst) and I have quite the bird sanctuary in my backyard. I unfortunately do not have an awesome camera, as you do. I love raptors. I'm always driving on Rt. 18 looking at them soaring above-I have a convertible. I know...doesn't sound too safe!! There are many hawks in the area of Deal Rd.- just west of Logan. I guess with Palaia Park (Deal Test Site to me), there is plenty of room to nest. Keep posting those pics and hopefully you have some good painkillers for that tooth!!