I shot this yesterday just south of the entrance of Chekika State Recreational Park in the Everglades National Park (Miami, Florida). I was driving on the abandoned road in front of the park and noticed this hawk intensely eyeballing its next meal. It took roughly 10-12 minutes for it to make up its mind as to when to strike. During the wait, though, you can see it twitching occasionally, as if unsure of its decision. Finally, it swooped down into some tall grass by a tree and waited there for about 30 seconds, while positioning itself onto its dinner. When it had a firm grasp on its prey, it flew up with it and narrowly missed the tree, which is when I was able to capture this image. After getting home and seeing this image on the computer, the thing I noticed about this hawk is how intelligent it is. Take a look at its feet and see how it has positioned the rat. It is parallel to the hawk's body, so that when it flies, there is less wind resistance. You have to love mother nature!
Enjoy the pic, folks!!! My family and I certainly have. 
There's actually a piece of long grass caught between the rat and the hawk's foot. I was really lucky to see the hawk show lots of interest in something. All I had to do was to wait for it to decide to go down and get it.
