December 31, 2014
Red-Tailed Hawk, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

I'm down near Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, and my goal is to photograph subjects other than the ever-popular Sandhill Crane and Snow Goose. I came upon this juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) perched atop a small tree yesterday morning and it wasn't exciting enough to photograph, so I parked nearby to photograph some of the Sandhill Canes flying. After a while, two people got out of their vehicle and approached the hawk in order to get a better picture. When they flushed it, I was ready and made this image.