My best hawk pics to date!

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day! A hawk landed in the tree and I was able to get quite a few pictures of it (mostly from the back, which was helpful in getting shots of the tail to help make an ID). It then moved to another tree that was even closer and was facing me so I could get pictures of the chest, which is another key to making an ID. At first I thought it might be a Cooper's Hawk, but it seemed a bit too big for that and it had too much white on it's chest. I really wasn't sure what it was. I sent some pics to Dave and he thought it might be a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. I posted the pics on whatbird.com to ask for help and help arrived! It's such a great site with so many friendly and helpful people. Final consensus?? Dave was correct. A juvenile Red-tailed hawk!
http://www.whatbird.com/forums/forums/thread/143900.aspx

So how was I able to get such great pics without having the hawk take off? Well, it was an accident on my part. I just happened to see it land in the tree. The only reason it moved closer was because I was near it's possible lunch. We have a trap set up to catch House Sparrows and it's placed on the front lawn, in the shade, near a shrub. Sometimes other birds get in there (it's a live trap, so no innocent birds get hurt. We check it regularly and release them accordingly). Anyway, a male cardinal was in there, so the hawk was moving closer and was probably trying to figure out when to make his move. I went over to the trap and the hawk moved up a few branches. I let the cardinal out and he flew off to safety.

While we see Red-taileds quite often, it was pretty exciting to get some nice clear shots and to have a juvenile in the yard for so long.