Our juvenile Red-tailed Hawk picked a branch that afforded good visibility over a wide stretch of the woods. It sat there for about ten minutes, turning its head toward the slightest sound of rustling in the leaves, but didn't ever see anything worth pursuing.
One place on the ground must have had some interesting sounds for the hawk flew down and perched just a couple of feet above the ground but again didn't find anything. This picture gives a good view of the pattern on its back. Notice also the close-spaced bands on its tail.
With the snow falling faster, the hawk returned to a higher branch. It made a couple of passes at birds around a feeder, but didn't come close to catching any. The smaller songbirds are much more agile and easily evaded the hawk.
See our "Screen Savers" near the bottom of the home page for high-resolution pictures of this hawk.
