Red Shouldered Hawk

I had a visitor this afternoon. I went down to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea and noticed that there was no activity in the yard. This normally means a predator is lurking about. I grabbed my camera and skulked out the back door and after a few moments found the culprit. An immature Red Shouldered Hawk was hanging out in hopes of an inattentive dove or blue-jay. They don't seem to bother the squirrels but they do chase down the occasional chipmunk. They prey mostly on other birds like the mourning doves and jays with an occasional woodpecker for variety. My back yard is a target rich environment. As you can see he kept getting irritated with having his photo made and moved around a bit. I used the Nikon D80 with the 55-200 VR lens. Enjoy your commune with nature this afternoon.

P.S. you can click on the pictures if you want to see them full screen.