Hale Reservation, Westwood, MA · November 9, 2026
Noanet Pond, 11:46 AM · Orchard Field, 12:38 PM
Red-tailed Hawk over Noanet Pond
Red-tailed Hawks are the everyday raptor of our neighborhood skies, common enough that it's easy to look up, say "Red-tail," and look away. On Monday I did exactly that, twice: once over Noanet Pond just before noon, and again over the Orchard Field less than an hour later. In the field, both were simply RTHA.
It was only at home, with the photos side by side, that I was sure I had met two different birds. The pond bird is the paler of the two: a nearly clean belly, a warm rufous wash across the upper breast, a light tail, and empty yellow feet tucked neatly beneath it. The Orchard bird wears a bold belly band of dark streaks, heavy dark marks at the wrists, and a brick-red tail. It is carrying something in its talons that I can't make out, even enlarged.
Red-tailed Hawk over the Orchard Field
The plumage is the same, but these are two individuals, each with its own patch of sky and its own morning's work.
Thoreau knew what that sight was worth. In his journal for June 13, 1853, he declared he would sooner give up chicken and eggs for good than lose the sight of "a hawk sailing through the upper air." A common bird is not an ordinary one. The Red-tail overhead is somebody in particular, if we look long enough to notice.