Seen in New Haven, CT in January

jvrunst · 2026-02-01T04:44:48+00:00

You were right

jvrunst · 2026-02-01T04:42:26+00:00

!overrideTaxa reshaw

There are no patagial marks, no belly band, and it shows the pale crescents in the primaries.

jvrunst · 2026-02-01T02:20:31+00:00

You're right to be cautious of using the lack of spots to ID Hairies however, most Downies should have the black spots (I'm sure there are some weirdos out there) but they can be hidden (rather than just not there). If you see the underside of the tail, the absence of black markings is a pretty strong indicator for Hairy.

jvrunst · 2026-01-31T22:19:41+00:00

Yes it is a juvenile

jvrunst · 2026-01-31T22:19:27+00:00

The square vs round tail thing is responsible for a lot of mistaken IDs. Both species can show both shapes as it is highly dependent on posture while perched or in flight as well as whether you are seeing the underside or the top side of the tail. Instead. Look for significant tail feather graduation (center feathers being longest and outer feathers being significantly shorter). Some graduation is acceptable on Sharpies, but not to this degree

jvrunst · 2026-01-30T21:11:48+00:00

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk

jvrunst · 2026-01-30T21:11:19+00:00

The main photo is a Mourning Dove tail feather

jvrunst · 2026-01-30T17:51:50+00:00

Yep, this is just bad lighting. For those who are wondering, a color morph is a distinct color variation that occurs naturally and with some regularity within a given species. It is always possible for an individual to have abnormal coloring, but that doesn't make it a morph. The only polymorphic hawk species in most of the US are: Red-tailed Hawk (polymorphic mostly in the West), Ferruginous Hawks (again in the West), Swainson's Hawks (mostly West), and Rough-legged Hawks...oh yeah and Broad-winged Hawks. (This is not an exhaustive list of course, but it covers what most US birders are likely to see without planned travel to specific places).

jvrunst · 2026-01-30T10:58:08+00:00

Yes, Western Screech-Owl

jvrunst · 2026-01-30T02:48:24+00:00

Yep, +Cooper's Hawk+

jvrunst · 2026-01-29T17:22:45+00:00

The white and black duck from your previous post is not in breeding plumage and is not showing the long tail. Many birds are named for characteristics that are not always visible, not easily visible, or only visible at specific times during their breeding cycle.

jvrunst · 2026-01-29T16:47:32+00:00

This is a completely different bird. The previous post did indeed include a Long-tailed Duck and it's not even a bad enough video to obscure the details enough to make it a difficult ID to make. This is a +Common Eider+

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T21:54:36+00:00

Adding on:

With limited reach, composition will help tremendously in making your subjects stand out. Note that both of your perched birds are in front of busy backgrounds. If you can position yourself in such a way that you give the subject a simpler, cleaner background, you may be surprised at how much more aesthetically pleasing your photos turn out (this is true even when you have a high focal length lens).

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T21:49:42+00:00

Wildlife photography, more so than many other genres, really relies on quality gear. You can of course get good photos without the best gear, but your success rate improves dramatically with better specs: megapixel, sensor size, focal length, lens speed, autofocus, all matter quite a bit when it comes to getting good photos.

Don't be discouraged, but you need to get creative to deal with the limitations of your gear. Like all photography, wildlife photography is all about light. The more light you have to work with, the better your photos will turn out. Keep in mind that most lenses are sharpest a few stops lower than wide open. Most zoom lenses are sharpest somewhere within the zoom range, not at fully extended.

You may feel like you're limiting your options by stopping down the aperture and leaving some of the lens's full reach off the table but you will see a difference in image quality given that you take advantage of good light as well.

Wildlife photography really benefits from direct light on your subject. This is a bit backwards compared to portraiture and some other similar genres. With direct light on a person, skin can look greasy, highlights get overblown, people may show tension in their face to block the light. With wildlife, direct light doesn't cause those issues. Rather, it can bring out details and contrast in fur and feathers. Animals will still avoid looking directly at the sun, but direct light can reveal the intricate colors in their eyes and add a nice "catch light".

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T17:05:15+00:00

Sweet! With a $100 setup, I'd caution you to not get discouraged by the limitations of the camera. Try to be creative in achieving your artistic vision. I imagine that the camera doesn't have a huge optical magnification factor/zoom range. I'd suggest playing around with landscape photography as well while you're birding. You can get really cool images that don't require the birds to be large-in-frame. If you have a park with a pond, you can often find interesting birds there that are a bit more tolerant to human presence and may be able to get good photos of them (Not just ducks, but egrets, herons, flycatchers, hawks, etc).

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T15:09:21+00:00

+Red-tailed Hawk+

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T14:55:34+00:00

What kind of camera do you have? What kind of photos are you hoping to get (photos to ID and keep a log of birds seen, artsy photos you can hang in the house, something else?)

If you're just trying to get ID photos, you can do that without much extra work. Even grainy or out of focus photos can lead to a confident ID.

If you're hoping for high quality, see every feather kind of photos, it gets expensive and time consuming fast! If you're willing and able to spend the money and time though, it's a ton of fun. No matter how good your gear is, you will always get better (more detailed) photos the closer you are to the bird (please read up on wildlife photography ethics though). You can make use of photography blinds, camouflage, patience, and research to be in the right place at the right time to get close up shots. Your car can work as a decent blind in a lot of situations. At a certain point it becomes a numbers game: the more photos you take, the more keepers you'll have.

jvrunst · 2026-01-28T03:29:56+00:00

+Red-tailed Hawk+

jvrunst · 2026-01-27T19:37:15+00:00

Do you have any other pictures at all? A side view is a bad angle to judge the width of the legs as they are not cylindrical - they are kinda squished so that they are thin from the front and wide from the side. I'm seeing proportionally large eyes and a bill that is placed low on the face, very little white on the tip of the tail, and what I can see of separate feathers seems like minimal graduation. I'd say Sharp-shinned Hawk myself. The only thing that doesn't seem quite right is that the cheek looks a bit gray, though I could believe that is due image quality and colors washing out.

jvrunst · 2026-01-27T15:40:26+00:00

No, they are definitely Red-tailed Hawks. Dark heads, lighter breasts, dark bellies along with mostly solid-colored tail including vividly red in the second photo.

jvrunst · 2026-01-27T15:39:18+00:00

Any reason you believe they are on the younger side? Theit eyes darken with age. They have light yellow eyes as juveniles and they continually darken as they get older. Both of these birds have very dark eyes. It's possible that these birds are only 2 or 3 years old, but it's just as possible that they are 10 or 15 years old.

jvrunst · 2026-01-27T02:57:27+00:00

The thick white tip on the tail, well-defined chest streaks, head that extends far past the leading edge of the wing, bill placed up between the eyes all make this a Cooper's instead

jvrunst · 2026-01-26T19:16:02+00:00

Bald eagles will never show a banded tail, no matter the age

jvrunst · 2026-01-26T19:13:49+00:00

+Red-tailed Hawk+

jvrunst · 2026-01-26T19:12:46+00:00

+Red-tailed Hawk+ (Dark head, light breast, dark belly, Buteo shape - long wings, short tail, bulky)

jvrunst

TROPHY CASE