As I walked about in my neighborhood on Friday, I was reminded that we share our living spaces with some wonderful creatures, like this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) that I spotted perched high in a tree. Fortunately I had my long lens on my camera and was able to capture these images. The first two images are cropped to give you a better view of the hawk, but I included the final photo to let you see the wonderful structure of the branches surrounding my subject.
People sometimes get a little freaked out by the the length of the telephoto zoom lens when it is fully extended, so I am usually reluctant to use it in a residential area—I do not anyone to accuse me of being a peeping Tom. I reserve that kind of voyeuristic behavior for wildlife.
In this case, I had stayed inside for too long because of snow and ice and felt an uncontrollable need for a photographic “fix.” Yeah, I am kind of addicted to my photography and have a codependent relationship with my camera.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Those are beautiful photos, Mike.
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Thanks, Mitzy. I suspect that you are used to seeing more wild creatures, but I live in a suburban townhouse community with tiny yards and not a huge amount of open space. Still, I manage to occasionally see deer and foxes and I have heard we might also have a coyote.
Wildlife is getting braver even in cities. My sister has seen bear, and dear in her neighborhood in the city! 🙂 We see hawks in her neighborhood all the time as well.
Nice catch light captures. Ellen seems to be the Hawk lady recently, I keep missing them. I see the Red-shouldered by you have a similar coloring to ours. The red appears to be less prominent in Florida. My observation, no real proof 😂😂😂
Great pictures as always. I love the birds and creatures around me. All the time! And you made me laugh at your lens comment. I was picturing a scene….🤔😂
Wow. Fabulous shots. Thank you for sharing, Mike.
That full shot showing hawk beneath an arch … wonderful! I’m sure he chose that spot for its downward view, but he looks poised for all of us to admire.
The hawk seemed quite alert, though I can’t tell for sure if it was hunting or not. That being said, it did seem to be quite aware of the small dog that was being walked nearby.
Very nice series of images Mike! Enjoyed your hawk images!
Lovely shots!
Thanks.
I see lots of tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) in your photos. You’re lucky to have them; we have exactly one that I know of here.
Excellent shots of the hawk. (and the tree)
Thanks. We do seem to have quite a few of them in this area. This one is in my neighborhood, but there are also quite a few at the wildlife refuge about 15 miles down the road. I seem to recall photographing an eagle in one such tree recently.
Nice images. My favourite is the last one showing the hawk in its beautiful surroundings. I was reading an article about the very subject of using the telephoto lens differently: keeping the bird small in the midst of nature and how this takes your image from an ID photo to a more moody and atmospheric image.
In my mind, there is a place for both types of photographs, which is one of the primary reason why I included them all. The final photo forces viewers to linger over the photo and explore it, but first I have to grab their attention, which is why I led with the close-up shot. Even on a handheld device, they can tell what the subject is and hopefully they will then read the entire posting or at least look at all of the images.
Looks like it was a beautiful day, too!
It was a strange day. It started out with snow and sleet. In the middle of the afternoon we had some moments of blue sky, which was when I photographed the hawk, and then it clouded over again less than an hour later.