Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Young Red-tail

Actually BEFORE Snowmageddon (just one of the titles of the historic 17.1 inch snowfall that just fell here in the Mpls area) I took these shots of a first year Red-tailed Hawk. He was hanging out near Springbrook. Staff there said that a couple of days before, he had gotten himself a couple of squirrels. Makes sense - the feeders would have been kept full to make sure lots of birds would be coming in anticipation of banding. Squirrels love feeders/seed, too, and any quick-thinking hawk would take advantage of that.









Note that the bird does NOT have red tail! He won't, until he starts to molt it in next year. See how the first year birds get "training wheels", especially on their tails? The feathers are just a bit longer, and you can see if here on that white edging on the tail.

This final shot shows the hawk locating and taking off after possible prey!

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