Red-tailed Hawk Hovering for Dinner at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

I always try, but I rarely get good pictures of hawks or eagles in flight. It's not easy to focus in on a moving target and get much of a picture, but today was a little bit different. There was a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) hovering, or kiting, over the empty fields around the viewing platform on Beckwith Road (part of the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge). It was hovering in place long enough to get focused in. It didn't get any dinner while we watched, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Things were pretty quiet otherwise at the viewing platform. We saw dozens, maybe a hundred or two of the Sandhill Cranes off in the distance, but no geese. It may be that they were out foraging for food, but it is also possible that they have begun the journey north to the Arctic. The viewing platform usually closes in March when the birds are gone.