No Red-Tail?

Sometimes you don’t get a great view. Also, this Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is one of last year’s fledglings, so it’s still too young to have the red, which is really russet- or brick-colored, tail. But those rough, white, V-like markings on the back are an excellent clue to the identification of this species, at least on the East Coast. Likewise the dark, splotchy belly band. This bird was being mobbed by half-a-dozen barely-seen, but defiantly heard, birds in the canopy of the tree. The noise: that’s often a good sign of a predator in the ‘hood.