I believe this is a red-tailed hawk but even after looking in my bird book, I’m not 100% sure. I’m sure someone can tell me for sure.
This bird was sitting on the wire Friday night when I went to take the sunset/moonrise photos. I didn’t stop on my way because I didn’t want to miss the sunset and moonrise. 
But he was still sitting there on my way home, and although there wasn’t much light, I stopped. I had to crank my ISO up as high as I could to get any photo at all. I got out of my car to get as close as I could. 
Still, the photos were nothing but a silhouette with a lot of grain.
When I take photos, I get totally immersed in what I’m doing and often don’t pay attention to what’s going on around me. In the recesses of my brain I heard a dog barking but it wasn’t until he was charging toward me that I realized he was coming after me. I did a quick mental calculation on whether I could get to my car before the dog got to me . . . it was a close calculation. Lucky for me, the dog stopped within the borders of his yard – maybe they had an invisible fence. But it sure got my adrenaline flowing.
On my way back from taking the sunrise/moonset photos yesterday morning, the hawk was back on his perch and the lighting was wonderful.
I took these from the safety of inside of my car. 🙂
Maralee
Through My Lens 
fantastic capture! ~amy
Thank you very much, Amy.
These are top of the range captures… can’t help with the ID a bit out of my area.. but I’m guessing from my books you could be right…
Thanks so much, Rob. Someone else confirmed that it was a red-tailed hawk. Such beautiful creatures.
Hard to tell because of the lighting (wonderful lighting for photography, but not wonderful for identification). The one way to know for sure is the tail (obviously), and it’s not lit. I can see some banding, and based on the coloring of the body, it probably is a Red-tailed. However that too might be off because of the “golden hour” light. Did you notice a red tail (upper portion) when it took flight?
Oh, and nice capture.
I couldn’t tell while he was sitting on the wire. And truth be told, when he took flight the night before was just about the time I realized a dog was coming straight for me so I didn’t pay any attention at all to what color the tail was. 🙂
Nice collection.
I usually end up with silhouettes in flight as well. Gotta keep trying though.
So…no pictures of the dog?
No photos of the dog. With him running toward me and me running toward my car . . . it would have been just a blur. 🙂
It’s a red tailed. Beautiful shots!
Thanks for the confirmation.
Great shots. Mine don’t usually sit still if I get out of the car.
Thanks, Gunta. It did take flight after I got out of the car although he stayed on the wire for a bit. I don’t know if the barking dog startled him or if it was me starting to panic with the dog chasing me.
What fabulous shots Maralee and what a handsome fella he is. Those feathers look like glowing velvet.
Thank you so much. I could have sat there and watched him for hours. He was so beautiful.
Excellent work. You are getting being in the right place down to a fine art.
Thanks. I was just so amazed that he was there again the next morning. It must be a good observation post for breakfast or dinner.
Awcapture captures Maralee.. Glad the invisible fence stopped that dog :-). There is just something awesome about Hawks as well as Eagles. Maybe because they are the ultimate predators of the sky? 🙂
Thanks, MD. Both hawks and eagles are magnificent. I don’t usually see one so close – they’re usually flying high in the sky.
Maralee, fantastic photos … taken from inside the car!! Some majestic birds – he probably had found a great hunting ground and maybe he wanted to say hello to his new neighbor. I never heard that a hawk attracts a human, but maybe they do .. but dogs I believe, because swans chase dogs. Glad that you got away.
There was a big open field across the street so I think he had a great vantage point from the wire to look for food.
Yes, he must have a great view over his hunting ground .. and there must be a good feed too .. because he returns.
Your photos are stunning.
Beautiful, in the first one he is giving you the eye…..I am watching you…
He kept watching me the whole time I was there.
Love the light in these. Excellent captures 🙂
It was shortly after sunrise so there was a beautiful soft light cast on him.
That’s scary about the dog. The dangers of being a photographer. . .
I know. I need to pay more attention to my surroundings. 🙂