Every time I visit my mom in the Bay Area, I take lots of photos of the birds at her feeder. Not this time.

That is a very young Redtail Hawk that I spotted when I was doing something that will show up on the blog soon. The hawk was right near the elementary school I went to as a child. I guess they call them middle schools now?

This hawk has obviously only recently left the nest, and is out hunting on its own. Maybe this is its very first time.

Note the extra fluffy feathers, the not-quite-so-sleek shape of an adult.

And this ain’t no bird feeder bird, it is more like a feed on the birds at the bird feeder bird.

This bird will be an apex predator soon enough.

He already has the “I’m hungry” intense stare down.

And he was paying attention to me as I tried to work in closer.

But he wasn’t giving up on looking for a snack either.

Okay, I am back in San Diego now. Late Christmas and New Year is over. Back to real life. But don’t worry, I still have a lot of photos from the trip to share. HA!