Red-Tailed Hawk

On my morning drive to work, I spotted some wild turkeys scratching near Gray's Cemetery. I pulled in to try to get a few photos, but a farmer's fence prevented me from gaining access to a point where I could get any shots of them. Maybe some other day . . .

Serendipity: This impressively large fellow had been perched in a tree in the cemetery, but he flew away, and landed among the top branches of a gnarly tree, way at the other end of the graveyard.

Not one to be deterred, I followed him and got a few shots, with the zoom pretty much maxed out.

I like birds but am not by any means a birder or a bird expert (OK, so I know a hawk from a handsaw, as the Bard might say, but that's about it), so I consulted some friends who are. They informed me that this is a red-tailed hawk, and a juvenile at that. If this is the size he is as a juvenile, I worry to see how big he'll be when he's all grown up!