ML78253951

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - X

Media notes

Red-tailed Hawk juvenile in downtown Regina SK near sunset

Observation details

I saw a large bird fly across College Avenue and land in near the top of a tree in front of the Canada Saskatchewan Productions buildings. It looked about the the size of a GHOW i had seen recently nearer Wascana Lake. When i got closer i could it had a hawk shaped head, not the round like and owl. It sat very upright. Seeing it from the back first, i saw very dark brown feathers on the back and wings with white marks over the brown. The head was dark and had small white marks scattered over the brown. The wing tips appeared to extend just past the tail. The birds eyes were very pale yellow. There was a small patch of yellow feathers at the base of the top mandible. The white marks on its face gave the look of having thin moustaches. The bill was lighter gray at the base and dark gray at the tip. From the front of the bird, i could see very heavy brown streaks on the breast. It was facing the setting sun so in between the streaks looked light rufous but could have been the same white as on the back. The belly was brown with buff marks about the same size as the white marks on the back. The buff could have been white in the sunset. I could see narrow dark bands on the tail. When the bird moved i could see yellow orange feet with black claws. It seemed to have feathers down to its feet but could have just been covering its legs to stay warm. A squirrel made feint charges on the branch below but beat a hasty retreat when the hawk ruffled its feathers in response. After the 3rd feint the hawk left. The hawk was flying away from me heading around the building. It had relatively slow wing beats 3 shallow flaps and a short glide. It held its wings straight out withe the tips spread like fingers. Photos taken. Thank you to our regional reviewer, Dan Sawatsky, for helping me identify this bird as a juvenile red-tailed hawk.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX B500

ISO

360

Focal length

152 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

2622 pixels x 1972 pixels

Original file size

2.17 MB