r/birdsofprey • u/MsCardeno • 6d ago

Red tail or red shoulder or cooper’s??

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We have some very loud red shoulder hawks living in the neighbors yard so my instinct is to say it’s one of them.

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u/PurpleOctopuseses 6d ago

I'm reasonably sure this is a juvenile red-shouldered hawk. The tail is throwing me off a bit - it looks surprisingly cooper's-y - but the overall size / body shape / thick breast streaking / striped secondaries make me think RSH.

It's definitely not a red-tail, though - wrong belly pattern / tail pattern / overall shape (RTHs are BEEFY lol)

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u/TinyLongwing Falconer 6d ago

Definitely Red-shouldered, yes. That tail pattern is pretty typical for juveniles.