Wes, any hawk with 25% adult feathers will have to be over a year old. The take of nestlings the first half of the year will definately exclude adults, and there will be no nestlings to worry about the last part of the year. In the area I live in, most RT's are gone from the nests by the 28th of April. But that is locally. The Cooper's here do not go to nest until the trees are fully leafed out. I have seen food being taken to the nest in late June, but most are fledged by the second week of July. Again, that is locally. So for here at least, it would be to our benefit to have it run from Jan to July and August to Dec. There really is no need to alter the designations of eyass or passage, just the rules by which we can take them. As for falconers being able to tell the difference, some many years ago a past President of the THA and 5 or 6 other master falconers called me to come look at a cooper's hawk to see if it was an adult or a passage. Turned out to be a very adult female Sharpie. So identification of a hawk can be in question as well as the age in some cases, and it would be better to have the take seasons well defined to prevent some mistakes.

Jack