Hawk Eye

Immature Red-shouldered hawk.

I believe this to be a red-shouldered hawk--perhaps still immature.  There were four of them making lots of noise yesterday and today.  While I snapped many pictures, this was the best.  Unfortunately, I do not have a telephoto lens on my camera.  This hawk had just nabbed a meal.  I saw him flying with what appeared to be a mole or a mouse.  He was intent on eating it.  I carefully made my way and got as close as 15 +/- feet from him.  I was utterly amazed.  I just kept taking pictures with multiple frames using auto-focus.

I was unsure just what type of hawk it was (red-tailed hawks I'm more familiar with).   I went to the Cornell Lab and found that I could easily identify this one from its cry as that is the sound embedded in my brain from the last two days of noise! The color was more muted, so I'm speculating that it is an immature hawk.

The second photo is not as good, as it is much further away.  It shows a good frontal. The crook of the beak reminds me of the efficacy of design for intended function that Nature shows.

Immature Red Shouldered Hawk