Did you know that red-tailed hawks don’t have red tails until they’re more than two years old?

In January Rachel Baer photographed this immature hawk dining at Oakmont’s Riverside Park.  You can see that his tail is brown with horizontal stripes.  Here’s how you know he’s less than two years old:

Adult red-tailed hawks have rusty red tails (click here to see) but, as Cornell  Lab of Ornithology explains, immature birds usually molt into adult plumage — including the red tail — at the beginning of their second year.

During their first winter (age 6 months) and second winter (age 1.5 years) they look like the hawk Rachel photographed.

Here’s the top side of his tail, brown and striped.

And the underside — white (not even faintly rusty) with faint brown stripes.

In the spring of their second year (age 2.0 years) red-tailed hawks begin to replace their brown tail feathers with red ones.  That summer their tails show both colors. Click here to see a red-tail with a half-red tail.

By their third winter (age 2.5 years) their red tails advertize their maturity.  They’re now full adults and ready to court in the spring.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Cornell’s Birds of North America Online says that 5-10% of immature red-tails can molt into adult basic plumage at age 1.

The “aging” rule works only 90-95% of the time.  😉

(photos by Rachel Baer)

(*) NOTE: Red-tailed hawks are widespread across North America and the subspecies look different.  This blog post describes the eastern subspecies of the red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis borealis.  (The click-through image of a red-tail with a partially red-tail is a dark western bird.)

14 January 2015

In North America, bald eagles and golden eagles are very large birds but they’re no match in size for the Steller’s sea eagle.

Steller’s sea eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus) live on the coast of northeast Asia so do not encounter North America’s bald eagle but they do run into goldens who are lightweights by comparison.  The largest Steller’s can outweigh a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) by a factor of two.

At Lake Kuril on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, Steller’s sea eagles and golden eagles compete for food.

Watch these rivals fight in the Russian winter.

(screenshot from National Geographic’s Wild Russia series which, as of Jan 2022, no longer hosts the Steller’s sea eagle fight)

Meet the beautiful Jackie O.

Jackie was just a nestling when she was rescued by Ohio DNR who’d arrived to band barn owl chicks at her nest.  They discovered that Jackie’s left eye had been severely damaged, probably by one of her siblings, so she was taken to Medina Raptor Center where she’s lived ever since.

Jackie’s on the small side for a barn owl so the Raptor Center thought she was male and named her Captain Jack (a one-eyed pirate…).  As she matured her plumage looked female and a DNA blood test confirmed her sex so she was renamed Jackie.

The first time Jackie meets you she uses her good eye to check you out (above).   Eventually she shows you her whole face and you can see that her left eye is missing.

Among all the birds at the Raptor Center Jackie’s story is unique.  She’s the only one whose injury was caused by a bird.  Every other raptor was injured by humans, directly or indirectly — hit by vehicles, crashed into buildings or wires, poisoned, or shot.  It’s very sad that we cause so much trouble for birds.

Jackie O travels to events as an educational bird ambassador, teaching us how to prevent raptor injuries and how barn owls benefit us by controlling rodent populations.

You can sponsor her and other birds at Medina Raptor Center by clicking this link.

p.s.  O is for Owl. 😉

(photos by Kate St. John)