This is beyond a doubt a red tailed hawk and not a great horned owl. I know this because I made several other photos of this critter as a part of a series of images from that afternoon. P.S. this is a juvenile RTH, check out the banding on it's tail. (ps he's wet and drying off from a bath). Tree on a hill in a ravine valley inside High Park, I'm on another hill further away and slightly higher up 200 metres away, and happy as I can be while observing a red tailed hawk pair (yes there's another one nearby in another tree outside the frame.). The legs are bare and yellow, which helps rule out other species like Rough-legged or Ferruginous hawks which have feathered legs. The eyes appear pale, which is typical of a juvenile bird. There are no "ear tufts," which distinguishes it from many common owl species like the Great Horned Owl. Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks lack the distinctive reddish-brown tail of adults.

Juvenile red tailed hawk keeping a watchful eye over the west ravine near the Grenadier Pond in High Park - Toronto.🌿🦉
He's not just a bird, he's a raptor!🪶
🦅

#GoingOnAHawkWalk #Birds
#HawkingMyFeed #Art
#TalkBirdyToMe #GrenadierPond
#FeatherYouLikeItOrNot #OhMyDouglas

Birds Say the Darndest Things 10 Words (or Phrases) Birds Seem to Be Saying

You can practically hear the Eastern Towee rolling that first "r" in "drink" but the best of the bunch is the Carolina Wren channeling its inner John Belushi/DanAckroyd at the Olympia Café with its "cheeseburger" call.

#BirdCalls
#BirdSong
#BirdIsTheWord
#TalkBirdyToMe

Three mottled black-and-cream colored eggs sit in a shallow depression amid a large pile of gravel.

This week’s #sundaybirdtrivia is a classic species, renowned in the consulting world for hindering construction sites everywhere. Their nest site choosing ability is second only to their dramatic performance in protecting it. Who done it? #birds #birding #nests #nesting #talkbirdytome #fieldbiology