I.D. Help with a Hawk

[Jim Almquist]

If it is a Hawk. My guess is that it is a juvenile

Broad-Wing Hawk but I am just not sure.

[Steve Foss]

Looks like a red-tailed hawk to me, Jim.

[bobbymalone]

I'll second that but, I am not a ornithologist by any means.

[Jim Almquist]

Looking at my National Geographic guide it was hard to tell and I did not get a shot of the back side of the tail.

[ShawnZ]

I'd second the red tail id, I'd put money on it, not a lot of money, say.....well, not a lot of money, but I still think it's a red tail Also, this would be a very late broad winged hawk, (if the image was taken recently), most broad winged hawks migrate out of the north country by the second week in October.

[Steve Foss]

Jim, you can see a wash of pale salmon color on the tail feathers, and r-t hawks vary widely in how much and how bright the red tails are. It also has the classic mottled belly necklace of the r-t, and the fact that there isn't a dark neck/chest, dark terminal band on the tail and black patches at the wing elbows eliminates the rough-legged from the mix. It's much too big to be a broad-winged, which is a pretty small hawk compared to all the other buteos we get up here. You can gauge size somewhat by the branches near it.

Have Lisa or another rellie put the Sibley guide on your Christmas list. You'll be glad. It's like night and day compared with other guides, though for my money the NG guide is in second place, well ahead of all the rest. Just IMO, of course.

[R. Miller]

Gotta be a red-tailed...