From Photo Sanity |
Help! I am not very good at identifying birds. I have 4 guidebooks and I still can't figure out if this is a Red tailed or Red shouldered Hawk or a Golden or Immature Bald Eagle. Does anyone out there know? (Thanks to Larry Jordan we now know its a Red Tailed Hawk)
This photo was taken at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, north of Williams, California in late December. At this time of year the Refuge is full of geese that winter here. The sheer number of geese brings in the predators and I have been privileged to see Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, and Peregrine Falcon here. The geese themselves are pretty impressive too!
Posts
That is a gorgeous capture of a Red-tailed Hawk Debbie! These guys show many different "morphs" of lighter and darker colors but one of their distinctive markings is the mottled white patches on their scapulars (shoulders). Another is the dark patagial bar at the fore edge of the wing when seen from below (see my post here).
ReplyDeleteThis looks like an immature bird due to the tail being brown with dark banding, unlike the adult bird with the top of the tail being rufous color.
Hawks are difficult to identify because of there many different plumages and the differences between adult birds and juveniles. One way to tell if the subject is an immature eagle is the size of the beak. Their beaks are huge compared to a hawks beak.
I love your photographs and will come back to visit when I have more time to enjoy your entire blog!