Artist Reply: You are exactly right. She is the bird equivalent of a teenager. she is at least one full year old, but less than three. Red-tailed hawks do not get their red tail until they are full, breeding-able adults which doesn't happen until at least year three, sometimes year four. (if you notice, her tail is a cream color with very dark barring on it. I did an extensive search trying to identify what bird this was, though my gut screamed it was a red-tailed hawk, based on coloring of everything but the tail, and size.... but I had never heard that they didn't get their red tails once full sized. It actually took me emailing a photo of her to a raptor specialist to confirm it was a red-tailed hawk and to explain why it wasn't red)