While he is a juvenile his t tail feathers are brown but when he grows up he knows he'll have red feathers, earning him the name of Redtail Hawk.He makes friends with the other birds: Jerry Goldfinch, Vario Sapsucker, Luco (a bald eagle) Pandion (a fish hawk) and Buzzy. His mother teaches him how to find his way in the world, how to read the signs from nature, who to trust and not trust, and how to avoid the dangerous men. He is pleased to see when he returns home after a year of migrating that his tail feathers are red and he is finally an adult. It's a gentle story that introduces young readers to nature and the habits of birds.