Rick Morlen's New Red-tail - Nov. 15

Today Rick Morlen and I, along with his spouse Pattie, headed southwest of town to trap a Red-tail. We left my house about 2:30 with the idea of looking along 90A west of Rosenberg. The road was blocked, and diverted us north on 36. We stayed on 36, rather than taking the detour back to 90A. It paid off. Around 3:45, after seeing a number of adults, we spotted a Red-tail with a distinct belly band. I have been fooled by this in the past. We got out the binoculars and looked at him a good while. He had sort of a malar stripe, another feature I have not seen in juveniles. He looked like an adult, but I could see flashes of a light eye. If an adult, he's a young one. We drove well off the road, Rick slipped the trap into the grass, and the hawk bumped. He flew a very short distance. We turned around, waited a few minutes. Down he came, and was caught. Rick got him off the trap, and carried him in his lap back to my house, maybe forty minutes. The hawk has nice plumage, stout feet, and weighed 1276 with his hood on. Pretty small for female, big for a male. We'll see.I think a big eastern male.