
I wondered if this could be one of the pair of adult red-tails who have been seen around the Lower East Side the last couple of months. Unfortunately, I couldn't see any definitive identifying marks that could prove this hawk was one of the pair or not.
However, this hawk does have some interesting features. It's eyes, for instance, are a light amber color. This could mean the hawk is a young adult.


By comparison, Dora's eyes (below) are much darker.

Christo's eyes are also a darker brown.

Below is a juvenile, who has very bright yellow eyes.

Back to the light-eyed adult hawk...

One other thing I noticed about this hawk is the color pattern on its legs. There is some very pale barring, giving them a light cappuccino color.


To compare again, Christo has pronounced brown barring on his legs and Dora has none.
On the day I saw this hawk, it spent about an hour staring intently at a patch of grass very close to where one of the South Street kestrels had caught a mouse five days before. I hoped to see the hawk catch something to eat, but I ran out of time and had to leave.

It killed me to walk away knowing the hawk was still there.

Meanwhile, that same week, a hawk was spotted checking out 169 Bar on East Broadway. This is very near where I saw the mystery hawk, so perhaps it's the same one. ???
See more photos of this hawk on my Flickr page.
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