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!!

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!!

The young are yelling for their food. The adults still tend the young for a while after they are out of the nest. Be glad you have hawks they are efficent at keeping varmin, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels in balance. The yelling will soon end when the young can fend for themselves.