A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Buteo lineatus
This red-shouldered hawk has a dark head with white chest and variable streaking across breast.
This hawk was spotted in the backyard this evening. There were lots of mourning doves in the yard which quickly flew away.
Thanks again AshleyT. There are several red-shouldered hawks in this area and I have to take special notice of the bands on their tails and hopefully that will help me better identify them.
Yea it's crazy how different the immatures look from the adults! There are two main things that tell me this is a red-shouldered. One, the spotting on the chest. Though red-tails are highly variable, I've never seen one with spotting like that. If they have any, it's usually in a belly band pattern. Then the other thing is the tail. A red-tail of all ages would have many, very thin bands whereas this bird has few very thick bands. Hope this helps!
Hi AshleyT. I get very confused in determining the difference between red-shouldered hawk and red-tailed hawk. I have another picture on my site of a red-shouldered hawk and it looks entirely different. This is a juvenile red-shouldered hawk and looks nothing like the adult. Thanks for help and I will make the change.
Check out the tail on the bird. Red-tail hawk would never have stripes like that. This is an immature red-shouldered hawk.
Spotted on Dec 10, 2014
Submitted on Dec 10, 2014
+1
