Red-tailed Hawk

It's almost like this Red-tailed Hawk wanted to avoid a misidentification so its prominently displaying its red [1] tail. Since I'm pretty confident that birds don't really care what we identify them as, I'm assuming this positioning was a prerequisite to a good tail-preening session.

Still, when people can't see that iconic red tail [2], misidentifications can run wild. The most over-enthusiastic people will claim to have seen an eagle, and I have to admit that a Golden Eagle does look a bit like a very big Red-tailed Hawk [3]. Probably the only thing that prevents more widespread misidentification is that the Red-tailed Hawk is quite a bit more common than our other hawks, like Red-shouldered Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, and Northern Harriers.

May 13, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 282423074, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Yeah, I know, it's more of a burnt orange tail than a red one, but people used to refer to colors differently.

[2] Technically immature Red-tails have brown tails. I think there was a time when they were considered a different species until we watched 1 grow up into a red-tailed adult.

[3] Considering Golden Eagles weigh 3-4 times a Red-tailed Hawk, this would be similar to mistaking me for a human with the mass of a silverback gorilla.

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