Exciting Opportunity - Juvi Red Tailed Hawk Sighting

Lately, we've been hearing through the birders' grapevine that birds of prey are migrating through Southern Ontario. Hawks and such were rarer sightings on our walks than other types of birds so we decided we'll keep an eye out on our walks at local conservation areas for them. One of our favourites is Thickson Woods. Though the south area is a bit over run with mosquitoes, the north area is a little more open and we tend to see animals and birds easier there due to the area not being so dense with tall trees. We see tons of bunnies there.

Last weekend, we went around 4pm, a great time for the light. We didn't see very much at first and it was boiling hot despite what we figured it'd be. We rounded a corner and there in the dead tree, on the branch, the same tree we had previously seen a Merlin in, was a red tailed hawk. I grabbed some pics but they were far back. Slowly, I crept closer, all the time expecting the little bugger to fly off, but he/she stayed. I got real close and was able to get almost 70 shots of the beautiful creature.

We learned later on that it was a juvenile red tail, which is probably why it had little fear of us standing not too far below it and watching it while it preened and looked around, spotted things, bobbed it's head, then magnificently few off after about a half hour after we discovered it.