Great shot... Claire

which kind is it?

This is a young red-tailed hawk now out on its own, learning to hunt by itself. Mom and pop at this time of year are begining to stop providing food.

That's why this might be on the ground. These birds will chase anything, and some really go after grasshoppers.

This may be a male, as the eyes are slightly closer than on a female, but it's hard to tell for sure from this single photo.

You may have noticed that the bird was not as wary as an adult. Many of these summer 1st yr red=tails haven't learned much wariness and can be approached rather easily.

That will change in August, however, as things start to get tougher to survive. Four out of five of these immatures will not be here next spring. They will starve, as they are driven by successful adults into food-poor marginal habitats.

This bird has the coloration of the race in the Midwest and East.

Yes, the hawk was eating something. Based on pics I've not posted I think it was a young rabbit or field mouse. Baby rabbits are a walk up and eat it meal for any preditor. Photos were shot by a friend who simply stopped his car and took pics of the bird in a farm field. Location is Michigan. I tried to keep the file size down on these pics while keeping some of the original size. Probably shot with some of the telephoto built into his camera.
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

This is almost surely a male (but the only way to really tell is to get the bird in hand or see it alive nearby). The legs are not as thick as a femaleÂs, and the feet appear small. The head looks smallish, with a shortish bill. Looks masculine.

The dark fur on the ground beneath the head may well be rabbit fur. The color is right, but a closer look at the evidence almost surely negates the rabbit thought. If the bird would have eaten a rabbit, even a very young one, itÂs chest would be slightly protruding, from itÂs crop being somewhat filled. The crop here doesnÂt appear to be filled, so IÂm betting that the bird has just consumed a vole. The dangling piece in the upper photo looks like a vole.

A single-mole meal will not cause the crop to protrude. Any rabbit of any size will.

If it was a vole, then this bird is likely to be a survivor. Redtails in most of the continent subsist on voles. They eat all sorts of prey, but without being able to consistently capture the staple food, common voles, things will go bad very quickly. This bird may be a survivor.

LOL at your post title! Love you picture, I would hate to be at the wrong end of that stare! Your friends shots are great too!

A white spot? I don't get it.

Love the pics though.. :)

Hawks thoroughly digest their prey. Only the fir comes out in the form it goes in, and that in the form of a regurgitated fir ball, the daily "casting" or pellet.

But what comes out of the other end forms the "white spot."
It's often called "hawk chalk," the nitrogenous excretions of hawk digestion.

Real nice pictures.

Richard

I always see hawks sitting in trees and on lightpoles. One day on the way to church, I saw one sitting in the tree across the street, and the next day went to see if I could see any droppings; yep, there was the hawk chalk!!! That may have been the one that came into my yard and stole a sparrow; it was sad to see, but when he (the hawk) looked into my eyes (I yelled out the window 'hey hey' cause I could hear the sparrow crying), all I could think of was how beautiful he was.

Got it. Boy do I feel like a dummy right baout now.

*shucks*