Red-tailed Hawk

I spotted this bird from about 700 feet away, and I knew that I probably couldn’t get much closer to try and get a better shot. I was right. I took a few pictures and then tried to move another 20 feet. I only got a couple of other photos before he flew off.

He was perched, like a broken branch, in the massive tree at the southeast corner of our property. If I wasn’t so familiar with that tree, I wouldn’t have turned back when I sensed he was there.

It’s a tree that, as my neighbor Willard says, “isn’t very happy.” It’s slowly dying. When he’s on his little drives around the “neighborhood” in his ATV and spots me, he’ll often come over to where I am – with my camera perched towards a bluebird house or movement I’ve spotted in the shrubs.

Willard always points out the condition of the tree, because if it falls to the south, it will block the road. I see the tree as the perfect habitat for woodpeckers and many other species that use the leafless branches from which to hunt. I plan to allow the old tree to slowly meet its ultimate demise, and then we’ll worry about where it falls. Willard and I quietly agree to disagree about the topic.

These are not the best images, but for me it’s worth posting to my blog. It’s not that you aren’t going to see a Red-tailed Hawk nearly every mile as you drive on a rural road in my county. They spend quite a bit of time perched on power poles along the roadside as they scan for their next meal. However, I’m much more likely to see a Red-shouldered hawk on and around our property, than a Red-tailed hawk.

The two species are not always easy to distinguish, especially when they are in juvenile plumage. But, I’m quite certain this is a Red-trailed species. The Red-shouldered hawks have striped markings on their tails and have a different call. When this bird flew off, he offered the very recognizable, “kreee,” call.