Not Quite an Adult Hawk Yet

At around this time of year, for the past several years, I've noticed that one or more of Green-Wood Cemetery's resident Red-tailed Hawk pair's offspring starts "growing up". That is to say, their namesake red tail feathers start to emerge (up to that point they are just brown stripes). It takes about two years for those feathers to come in. Presumably an abundance of food in the area make the parents pretty tolerant of their young-adult offspring hanging around ... especially when there's a new brood to look after. Anyway, here's a nice photo that Jim Demers just took of one of our locals finally making that transition. I suppose the next step is he or she will move farther afield in search of territory and a mate.