Red-Tailed Hawk

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at home watching the movie Race to Witch Mountain with my dad.  (There is a dog, a tarantula, and a gila monster in the movie. A gila monster is a big lizard.)  In the middle of the movie, our doorbell rang.  It was Uncle Paul, Aunt Laura, and baby Luke.  Uncle Paul said, “Birds are doing crazy things outside.  You have got to come out and see.”  So we grabbed the camera and headed outside.  There were two crows fighting with a red-tailed hawk.  But they were just finishing their fight when we got outside.  The red-tailed hawk was on top of a street light pole.  We took the picture above of him sitting on the pole.  After a minute, he flew away, and we were able to get a picture of him flying.

Red-tailed hawks are common in my neighborhood.  This summer, we saw them all the time in our backyard.  One time I saw one eating a rabbit under our apple tree.  I drew a zoo sign and put it up next to our back window so people that look out the window and see a red-tailed hawk can identify it.  The sign shows its scientific name: Buteo jamaicensis.

The red-tailed hawk is diurnal, which means it comes out during the day and sleeps at night.