We’ve been seeing what we believe is a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk hunting over our fields and resting at their edges. It doesn’t have the rufous-colored tail of an adult yet, but it has the wheezy hunting cry of other Red-Tails that we’ve been privileged to meet.
Red-Tails apparently are our most common hawks, but their plumage is about as variable as teen tee shirts. This can confuse those of us who have not earned a black belt in birding.
The adults mate for life and share the egg-incubating and fledgling-feeding chores. It appears that their favorite foods are small mammals, but they’ll take snakes and even insects when times are tough. (Brooklin, Maine) Prior year images used here.