Hawkmadinebwog is no prophet, but either Odysseus is getting ready to slaughter Penelope’s suitors, or the red-tails are out for spring! Several people wrote in yesterday to tell us that a juvenile red-tail was hanging around Hamilton and Low until catching his meal and dropping feathers on the passers-by of College Walk.

Hawkmadinebwog is not skilled enough in field identification to tell individual red-tails apart, but it is easy enough to know whether a bird is a juvenile or an adult. These hawks do not get their red tail until their second year, so a brown, striped tail means it is a juvy. The hawk we have been calling “Hawkmadinejad” is an adult, most likely one of the mates of St. John’s. Hawkmadinebwog supports the continued use of the name Hawkmadinejad for any adult red-tail that dares to venture, like a controversial international speaker, onto our campus. But we should probably come up with another name for the babies. Baby Hawkma, perhaps?

Post your own suggestions in the comments, and see more pictures of the hawk and its meal after the jump.

The remains:

Hawkmadinebwog’s official position is that any raptor sighting is a good omen. For extra luck, draw some hawk doodles on your blue book.