Need Help Identifying This Bird...

[jprzybyla]

I photographed this large bird on the ground today. I have not been able to identify it. The marking on the legs are distinctive, but I have yet found a match.

[Steve S]

My first thought is a big old red tailed hawk.

[Clint007]

To help us, where did you gat that photo? What country...?

[jprzybyla]

My first thought is a big old red tailed hawk.

Thanks Steve, I will check the Red Tailed Hawk.

[bhurley]

I'm with Steve. I'd say it's a juvenile (first year) red-tailed hawk. The key isn't really the leg markings (although this does match the juvenile red-tail), but the big white patch on the breast, which is a distinctive field mark of the red-tail. Red-tails come in a variety of color morphs, from light to dark, but the eastern ones are mostly light and there are plenty of red-tails in Florida.

[jprzybyla]

To help us, where did you gat that photo? What country...?

Hello Claude, the image was taken today at a nature reserve in central Florida in the USA.

[jprzybyla]

I'm with Steve. I'd say it's a juvenile (first year) red-tailed hawk. The key isn't really the leg markings (although this does match the juvenile red-tail), but the big white patch on the breast, which is a distinctive field mark of the red-tail. Red-tails come in a variety of color morphs, from light to dark, but the eastern ones are mostly light and there are plenty of red-tails in Florida.

Thanks Brad, as I answered Steve I shall check out the Red Tailed Hawk.

[Clint007]

I agree with the Red-tail Hawk.
It is recognized with light iris and the "V" on wing coverts.

[jprzybyla]

Thanks to all respondents, I sincerely appreciate your help for indentifying this bird as a Red-tail Hawk. I can now file the image, actually this is the first Red-tail Hawk I have captured in Florida. I shall be looking for it perched as well as in flight.