Dark morph red-tailed hawk

For the last several months there has been a dark red-tailed hawk hanging around a particular spot here in town, which I drive by on my daily commute (Hwy 100 and 77th St in Edina, to be specific.) I've tried a few times to get a photo, but it's a challenge with all the traffic in that area. Yesterday I was at the car wash right over there and saw it, so went home and grabbed my camera for another attempt. I managed to get a few shots of it on the ground in a small field right across from a gas station. Not the best shot from a technical standpoint, but I think it's a particularly beautiful hawk and just thought I'd share.

By the way, it's not a Harlan's hawk, which do not have the rich chocolate coloring that this bird has. We had a lengthy discussion about this on our local bird mailing list recently.

That is a rich brown!

Awesome shot!

certainly a dark one, nice capture

Wow, LIz, great find and capture.

nicely captured Liz

Beautiful species Liz.

Thanks all! I'm always happy to see my friend each day. Although, now that the snow has melted, it's perching in more locations so is harder to find. I expect some time soon it will take off for somewhere else! It's been a bright spot during a long winter.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm heading out to see sandhill cranes, so hopefully I'll come back with some good photos to share!

That's a beauty, Liz.