This fellow flew into a tree right by my back door the other day (Princeton, NJ; 02.02.13). I pished to get him to turn his head, but only got this view, and nothing to show his belly. I'm assuming he is a Red-tailed Hawk juvenile, since that would be by far the most likely here. But a few characteristics made me wonder - lack of white throat for example, and not very prominent white supercilium. Those could well be within the range of individual variation, I suppose. Is there enough here to confirm my suspicions? Thanks for your help.
Problem solved. He came back again today, again perched with his back to me. But this time I got a look at his belly band as he flew off. Clearly a Red-tailed.
Hi, Bill. I can't comment on your second sighting and whether or not its the same bird, but the bird in the photo looks like a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk to me. The evenly streaked head pattern looks better, the bill appears small, there is rufous appearing in the plumage on both the mantle and on one of the primaries (places a Red-tailed should not show rufous), and the tail is brown with paler bands where an immature Red-tailed should have a brown tail with darker bands.
Do you have any front shots of the second bird? If it shows darker tail bands instead of paler ones, it's a different bird.
Hi Paul. I didn't have the camera out when he reappeared. I did get a look at him (dorsal, again) with my glasses, and the pattern of white spots made me think it was the same bird. I got a brief look at the breast when he flew away, and saw what appeared to be a belly band, prompting me to conclude it was a Red-tailed. But as I look more carefully at images of a Red-shouldered juvenile, there is dark streaking on a whitish breast which I could have mis-interpreted as a belly band, given that I only got a fleeting look. The rufous areas you mentioned were part of my reason for questioning the Red-tailed ID in the first place. Your sharp eyes seem to make it all add up. I'll change the file to Red-shouldered. I know we have an occasional Red-tailed in the neighborhood, but this must be a different bird. Thanks for your help.