This week's skywatch post is of a red-shoulder hawk. I took this photo on New Years Day just a few miles from the house. I've seen quite a few of these hawks around lately. This particular hawk was overlooking a vacant field, probably looking for field mice to munch on.
Here's a 'cool fact' feature from Cornell's All-About Birds website about red-shoulders:
The Red-shouldered Hawk is divided into five subspecies. The four eastern forms contact each other, but the West Coast form is separated from the eastern forms by 1600 km (1000 mi). The northern form is the largest. The form in very southern Florida is the palest, having a gray head and very faint barring on the chest.
Happy skywatching!
