Raptor

[Pharaoh]

Hopefully this attaches correctly - (my first attempt). Still not 100% certain, but the consensus seems to be that this is probably a juvenile red-tail:




Different perspective:

[Iguanasan]

Interesting looking bird. Looks like you figured it out just dandy. Thanks for sharing.

[Michaelaw]

Great looking bird, I'd be guessing it was a young Red Tail but don't know for sure

[kat]

You have me when it comes to birds. Love the stance and eye on the first one. Like the all wise mom giving me that look

[Hillbillygirl]

Nice Capture Pharaoh.
It is actually an adult Red-tailed hawk. The belly band of mottling and fairly solid coloured head gives this away. Not to mention the padding on feet is very developed.

[Marko]

Holy moly - that's intensity - nice catches!

[Pharaoh]

Nice Capture Pharaoh.
It is actually an adult Red-tailed hawk. The belly band of mottling and fairly solid coloured head gives this away. Not to mention the padding on feet is very developed.

I was going to ask Michaelaw since I saw his redtail pic... if there were any other identifying methods I got to your post and sounds like you have some knowledge on the subject too.

I will spare most of the details. We've had about 4-6 hrs. observation of the bird over 3 visits to the area. First observation which was only a tail view on a fence brought suggestions it was a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned. Even if adult, he or she appears IMHO too big to be a Sharp-shinned and as you noticed, the talons appear "developed" much more than any Sharp-shinned examples I've seen.

I had settled on it being a red-tail, and later a bird enthusiast I talked with gave his final opinion that it was a juvenile red-tail, though as I recall he stated it's white chest and pattern were a dead giveaway. I took that with a grain a salt, as looking through various reference materials / resources, I found white chests not that uncommon amongst a range of hawks.

I think you guys are right, and red-tails are most common around here (though this a wetland on a migration track that commonly hosts multiple types of raptors). The one "Hmmm" I had was based on observed behavior, this bird had several tendencies of the Northern Harrier.

I have more pics of the bird (not as detailed) but various other views if those might help(?) I also can give more detail on what we observed that made me wonder.

TIA

[Mad Aussie]

Man you got in nice and close! Very cool.

[Hillbillygirl]

Again, would like to commend you on a very good shot, especially first one with the "hunters glare".
Very far from a Harrier. They have a smallish head and very owl like round appearance to head actually, when perched. They also have a thin long tail, and body, and no mottled banding on lower abdomen, but grey, or chestnut mottling throughout whole abdomen.
This is for sure an early adult stage Red-tail hawk. Juveniles have very heavy mottling throughout whole head and abdomen area.
Definitely not a Sharp-shinned or Coopers for that matter either (no banding on tail that both possess). Too large for sharpie and not even correct colouring or leg/talon size for either, also.
If you check out my post called "Front Yard Find" you will se a Coopers Hawk, which is a larger version of a Sharpie, with a few subtle differences.
Hope this helps in your ID'ing.

[Pharaoh]

Thanks Hillbillygirl! I'll trust your word on it. Red-tail makes the most sense. Essentially I wondered about the Harrier because with the exception of one instance, it's flight has been very close to the ground / low altitude.

I've attached some of the garbage we picked up most of which was while s/he was in a restricted area we could not enter - so I apologize in advance as sheer distance has rendered these pretty much useless (but for the sake of appearance):















The only legitimate shot I got from underneath (as said it has traveled very close to the ground):



And a couple of the other closer shots I finally made jpeg copies: