Expert: Julia Booth - 8/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: Is this an immature red-shouldered hawk? I am going by the bands on the tail and the reddish color around the shoulder. Also looks a little smaller than the red-tail I saw earlier in the week.

ANSWER: Okay -it's really hard for me to say for sure, because the field marks aren't clear enough. The coloring makes me want to say yes, as does the tail length. I can almost make out the tail banding, which also seems right.

The color is wrong for a Red-tail -also they are bulkier and have less reddish markings.

Knowing your exact location could remove any lingering doubts. I always advise people to get a second opinion. Juvenile raptor identification can sometimes be tricky, because the markings can vary by location and even from month to month.

This is a great raptor ID page: http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/identification.html

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I shot this this evening in my backyard in the inner Sunset, San Francisco. extra image attached for your further perusal.

I am the person who asked you about the domestic duck a few weeks back. You were right. Apparently they were three of them that may have been dropped off at the lake but only this one survived. The bird continues to do well and is a very silvery color now. I will forward a picture if it is still around in a month or two

Answer
Where you live, the Red-Shouldered is listed as "accidental" -meaning very uncommon. This could be a Juvenile Swainson's Hawk. The image is still not detailed enough that I'd feel comfortable giving you a definite ID.

This is a good forum for bird ID: http://www.whatbird.com/forums/forums/default.aspx

It's sometimes good to get a handful of opinions.