It looks like it has the right coloring for a red-tail. Is the beak curved and pointed? Poor little thing.

Hi Kudzu~

I don't think your chick is a hawk...he's too small to already have his adult colored feathers for a hawk. I do think he might be a dove. See the link below...I found it online searching for baby dove pictures...looks a lot like your little guy.

Here is a link that might be useful: baby dove

What a cute little thing. How sweet of your son to rescue it. A few years ago, I took my baby kittens out in the yard, and some HUGE birds came flying over head. I grabbed them up and brought them back in. We sometimes have eagles along the CT river, but I am several miles inland and had never seen them at my home.
Kathy

That is no Hawk of any kind even baby. It is way to small. The smallest hawk I've ever seen was a night hawk and it was nearly 3Xs larger than this one. Long before the Red-tailed hawk eyeasses (baby hawks)have their adult feathers they are the same size as the adults. What you have looks very much like a morning dove. Morning doves make a mornful oooo oooooo oooo sound, they nest on the ground often. The feathers run in various grays to brown tan and have shades of pinks and blues sometimes.

the link below is a nest with 3 eyeasses & 2 adults. I think the eyeasses hatched about 4 weeks ago. They are going to fledge in the next few weeks.

LIL

Here is a link that might be useful: A nest of hawks

lol thanks ya'll. i do see doves around here a lot. people hunt them. the first time i wondered if the hurricane had just blown the pigeons out here to the boonies! but they're very pale colored, light gray i guess, with rings around their necks.

Cute little guy!! Guess GS can dig worms & feed him, he may end up pretty tame!! Year my DH died I heard a cooing 1 morning, i went out & looked in orange tree finally got a ladder & this dove just sat there & I was about a ft. away. I went out every day & talked to her told her she would have better luck next year cause a handful of long pine needles is not a nest, eggs would fall to the ground,she almost acted like she understood & would cock her head & coo. Finally there was a lot of noise out back so I ran to window to see. 2 adult doves showing their 2 little ones the finer points of taking their 1st bath, it was a noisy affair in the perfect birdbath, a plastic Parsons table flipped up side down & legs removed & filled with water & on over 100degree days I added a tray of ice cubes. Birds had a good time. That dove was much smarter than me but I still don't know where those eggs were & why I didn't hear them until they left the nest. I never saw an adult leave the nest either. They are around now but have never nested in my yard again. Guess they knew I needed a distraction from my loss. Jan

aww, what a great story :D
cherry/kudzu

Around here in VA, mourning doves are very common birds. I will tell you that they will come back to your house again and again if they find adequate food and shelter. They have a wonderful sound and they are such peaceful, pretty birds. In the winter, I always have to laugh because they look like giant softballs with legs...they are quite voracious! Anyway, good luck with your little guy...hope he makes it to adulthood. As as sidenote...doves do need grit in their diets. That's why they hang around the edge of a road..they're eating the tiny grit from the gravel.