Bird of the week 2024 | Red-tailed hawk

Red-shouldered hawk [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024

Red-tailed hawk

This red-tailed hawk guards its freshly caught prey, a rabbit, as it prepares to have its next meal while watching for sneaky birds and predators who might try to steal it from him in northwest Marion County west of Ocala on Saturday, May 4, 2024. According to All About Birds, “The red-tailed hawk is a bird of open country. Look for it along fields and perched on telephones poles, fenceposts, or trees standing alone or along edges of fields.”