Wild Red-tailed Hawk Identification

[Pyro01]

I'm trying to get better at my raptor identification and this is pictures I've taken of a red-tailed hawk that likes to sit up on this high capacity power line towers, to whom I've given the name of Rook. I believe it is a mature red-tail as some of the pictures indicate the red tail. The next question is whether it is male or female, my guess would be female? It's pretty hard to tell since it's so far away and guessing scale from that distance is difficult. You might need to zoom in on the pictures a little bit to tell. This is the best a 12-18x zoom gets me. My camera is more optimized for shooting high speed photography and videography.

[FredFogg]

No way to really tell! The only way one can tell the difference from a distance is if it were to just be huge beyond no possibility of it being a male and even then, who really knows, it is still an educated guess. There are so many size variations in red-tails, even when we trap them the only sure fire way is to have them DNA tested. I wouldn't just enjoy the view, I can't keep my eyes on the road most of the time because I am scanning trees, power poles, etc along the highways. LOL

[Maverick976]

I can't keep my eyes on the road most of the time because I am scanning trees, power poles, etc along the highways. LOL

The wife and I have the same problem. I glad we aren't the only ones. We saw two kestrels yesterday and have found 3 separate pairs of red tails within a mile of our house.