10 replies to this topic

[rogerVA]

Red-tailed? Seen today in Central Virginia.

[Sparky the Cuttlefish]

I'm seeing a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk here, with the red wash on the wrist.

[betiam]

Does it have a deformed right claw, or is that just me?

[rogerVA]

No, he has the guts of whatever he was tearing apart beneath his right claw.

EDIT: Looking at the the other pics I got of him/her, I never actually see the claw, but I do see that it was tearing apart something it had caught and was dining on it. It does look somehow abnormal, but maybe that's just the prey caught in it? Can't be sure.

[psweet]

Agree with Red-shouldered. The tail seems too long for a Red-tail, and there appears to be barring visible on the secondaries.

[betiam]

Sorry, not contributing to the actual ID, but now that whole leg looks strange to me. The left goes straight down from the body, but the other seems to be jointed backwards? Man, I need new glasses ...

[BarnSwallow]

The right leg is dropped. The skinny, bare, straight part that you see on the left leg is horizontal on the right leg. The joint on the right leg that you see is on the left leg, too, it's just higher up because the bird has his weight on it, if that makes any sense. He has no weight on the right leg, so it's totally relaxed. If you look at a picture of a bird's skeleton, you'd understand it better.

[psweet]

It seems funny, but the joint where it seems backwards is actually the ankle. So it's bent correctly, it's just that birds walk on tiptoe all the time.

[betiam]

Thanks for the explanations!

[JimUSNY]

yeah red shouldered... looks just like my two new neighbors... quite the racket when they all start calling each other in the AM

[rogerVA]

Great photos, Jim!