Dear MD-Osprey --

This morning, my cats were watching birds in my back yard in Catonsville
(from inside, through the window, never fear) at around 9:00 a.m.

The object of their interest was a hawk that I am struggling to identify. It
was perched on a chain link fence, sheltered from the wind by a stand of
very large yews.

It was about the size of a large cooper's hawk; 15 inches head to feet, with
a longish banded tail. I couldn't get a good look at the specific shape of
the tail because it was hanging behind the chain link fence the bird was
sitting on.

Brown head, yellow eyes, brown back, white chest and legs. Chest is streaked
with brown, moderately on upper chest, diminishing down the front such that
by the legs, the bird was completely white in front. Lightly marked with
brown.
I could also see scattered spots of white on the bird's back and wings,
about the size of one's thumb.

This is a picture I found on the web that REALLY looks like what I saw:

http://mwhitmirenaturephotos.com/Images/Other/3%20Red%20shouldered%20Hawk%2020x.jpg

The only thing that confuses me is that the bird I saw had what seemed to me
a significantly longer tail than I expect to see on a red-shoulder, and one
other peculiarity --
the bird I saw had faint white eye stripe that actually wrapped around the
back of its head, so that the back of its head seemed to have a faint white
bar all the way across the back (feathers were ruffled in the cold). I
looked at this bird for a good 20 minutes, I think he was just trying to
stay out of the wind in my yard.

Needless to say, there was none of the brick red mantle on the birds
shoulders that makes it easy to id a red shoulder.

In the case of an immature red shouldered hawk, for how long does the bird
keep that immature coloration / plumage? Would this be a bird probably
fledged last spring or summer that is due to molt into the more typical red
shouldered coloration this spring?

Thanks for your input!

Lori

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Lori Brown
web developer & troublemaker

It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it. - Steven Wright