Can a bird expert please identifythis hawk.
The picture was taken in north east Texas (near Greenville) on Dec 26.
My guess would be a red-tailed hawk. Most of these (especially in the east) have a prominent "belly band"of dark across a light breast (like this). But further west this can be faint. Here’s a photo of a bird from Texas.
Yeah, I was thinking red tail because they winter down here, but the white breast really threw me. That, and the tail doesn’t look particularly red.
[QUOTE=Turek]
Can a bird expert please identifythis hawk.
The picture was taken in north east Texas (near Greenville) on Dec 26.
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Nice pic. 
[QUOTE=Turek]
Yeah, I was thinking red tail because they winter down here, but the white breast really threw me. That, and the tail doesn’t look particularly red.
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IIRC, the red tail doesn’t develop until their second year. I could probably dig up a cite if one of the smart people don’t chime in soon.
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
Nice pic.
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Thanks, it’s not as sharp as I would like and for some reason when I uploaded it to Flickr it looked even softer.
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
… the red tail doesn’t develop until their second year.
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That’s right. Even then, it’s red (actually, kinda rust-colored) only on top, so it might not show well in a photo taken from the angle of the OP’s photo.