Immature red-tail visits East River Park

As the Tompkins Square hawks have been stealing the spotlight lately, I haven't had a chance to post about other hawks in the area.  As it's migration time, many hawks have been passing through the city and I caught up with this young (immature) red-tail who appeared to be enjoying itself out at the running track at East River Park.



The track is currently being renovated, so it's fenced-off and full of construction materials.















The hawk seemed to be very interested in the squirrels that were running around the area, although I didn't see it catch any prey.  When I see a hawk in a location like this, I do worry about rodenticide, which is a real threat to hawks in the city.



A lot of immature red-tails have been spotted in the neighborhood recently.  A quick way to tell if a hawk is a young bird is by the eye color (immatures have yellow eyes, as seen above, and adults have brown) and by their tails (immatures have brown tails and adults have red).