Wow - It's been a year!

I can' t believe I finally got a shot of a hawk.  I see them all the time, but never get the opportunity to pull over and capture the image.  This is a red-shouldered hawk, but I didn't see white stripes on the tail.  I welcome any corrections to set me straight.  It reminds me of me looking out over my students.  Though just like the hawk sometimes doesn't get its prey, students get out of my protective eye, which is what happened this week - actually two students and it happened twice - yikes, not good!  Anyway, I had a wonderful day out in American Canyon at the Flyway Festival.  Here is some information about red-shouldered hawks:

© hawkperson

Whether wheeling over a swamp forest or whistling plaintively from a riverine park, a Red-shouldered Hawk is typically a sign of tall woods and water. It’s one of our most distinctively marked common hawks, with barred reddish-peachy underparts and a strongly banded tail. In flight, translucent crescents near the wingtips help to identify the species at a distance. These forest hawks hunt prey ranging from mice to frogs and snakes.

Keys to identification Help

Hawks

Typical Voice

• Size & Shape

  Red-shouldered Hawks are medium-sized, with broad, rounded wings and medium-length tails that they fan out when soaring. In flight, they often glide or soar with their wingtips pushed slightly forward, imparting a distinctive, “reaching” posture.
  

• Color Pattern

  Adults are colorful hawks with dark-and-white checkered wings and warm reddish barring on the breast. The tail is black with narrow white bands. Immatures are brown above and white below streaked with brown. All ages show narrow, pale crescents near the wingtips in flight.
  

• Behavior

  Red-shouldered Hawks soar over forests or perch on tree branches or utility wires. Its rising, whistled kee-rah is a distinctive sound of the forest. They hunt small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles either from perches or while flying.
  

• Habitat

  Look for Red-shouldered Hawks in deciduous woodlands, often near rivers and swamps. They build stick nests in a main crotch of a large tree. During migration, Red-shouldered Hawks often move high overhead along ridges or along the coast.