I didn’t realize until I came upon this photo today, that I have a minor theme in my image archives: birds posing with flags. This is the first bird-patriot picture to creep into the Today’s Photo feature.

This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was one of two hawks, broadcasting their calls across Civic Center in San Francisco. Either people didn’t recognize the cry of a Red-tail, or they’re so jaded to urban predators, or maybe just urban noises, no one even looked up except for us. When we did, we saw an adult doing twirls above the plaza — and this juvenile commandeering this tower, swooping occasionally over the domain below.

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk in San Francisco

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk - San Francisco Civic Center - ©ingridtaylar

Close-up view of this juvie:

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk

Closeup of Juvenile Hawk - ©ingridtaylar

The Photo: This was shot with my Panasonic FZ50 (super-zoom) at full extension. The FZ50 is easy to carry — super light — so sometimes I’ll throw it in my bag instead of my dSLR.