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!!

Unless you are in the wide open, treeless spaces of the Plains, forget it. Redtails are highly unlikely to use such a nest site. If there is a tree within 5 miles, it will be used before a lone pole. (I've bred redtails in captivity, and study their wild nesting habits.) Sorry. Thanks for thinking of these great birds, anyway. Put up some kestral nest boxes way up on the poles, and they will be used.

It's sometimes a process, rehabber46, just learning (sometimes the hard way) what to do or not do. I see it all around me, the destruction of habitat as the city encroaches on the more 'wild' part of a county. People fleeing the 'city' move into portions of the county that were basically flattened and stripped of trees and shrubs, acres of it. Makes no sense to me, to be honest. Those bare and manicured yards are often kept that way with pesticides. Heck, we don't even spray for mosquitos. We just let the bats do the job for us. Right now, my yard is covered in tons of leaves. Many people don't know this, but some 300 species of insects (butterflies, moths, native bees, etc) overwinter in leaves, many of them attached to the very things most rake, mulch, mow, and clip away. Leaving leaves on the lawn, undisturbed, means far more beautiful and beneficial insects in the coming spring, and it also means more food for the birds as well. We've planted 2 plots of garden for hummingbirds and butterflies (and bees of course), and we've also planted native shrubs (additional ones to those already out there) for birds. American Beautyberry was our most recent. We have oaks that drop an abundance of acorns, several black cherry trees, maples, pine, and tons more. Even holly is beneficial to birds. As long as it's native, it's beneficial. As they say... fresh food, water sources, and shelter (for protection against predators and nesting), and you'll be helping nature thrive. Honestly, it's a lot less yard work when the shrubs are left 'scrubby' and the leaves are left until the temps are back into the 50's consistently, when raking is less harmful to what's overwintering in those leaves. I see more and more people going for the 'cottage garden' or 'wild garden' look for both just landscape.. and even vegetable gardens. I prefer the more messy and wild gardens than the sterile landscapes of most suburbs.