King of the Prairie Skies

In my opinion the red-tailed hawk is the king of the skies over open fields, at least in this area of the U.S.. The largest red-tail weighs only 3 pounds/1.4 kilograms, but is among the largest raptors hunting over open ground.

Hawk populations in northern Illinois swell in winter, as there are year-round resident hawks as well as hawks which have migrated to this area from the far north. This morning on a drive to go shopping I saw six red-tailed hawks on a 4 mile/6.4 kilometer trip.  The photo is of one of two hawks hunting several acres of open land from the tops of a few scattered trees.

+1 EV shooting against the sky, 5 point center focus. 1/1250th shutter speed was quite not fast enough to freeze the upper wing. I shoot aperture priority 99% of the time, but will try shutter priority also adjusting ISO for a faster shutter.