Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)
Well, I initially identified this as a sharp-shinned hawk. I’m not terribly good with the hawks (as anyone who is will tell you). I do know the general shapes and because of that I incorrectly correlated the narrow tail here with the Accipiters and went with the most common of those around here. As I was quickly told by my birder brother, this is a red-tailed hawk, which usually flares its tail. Looking at pictures (which I probably should have done first) I can see he is right. All the patterns on the wings say red-tail, to those who know. So, now I know. At least until I forget, which probably won’t be long.
Anyway, I’ve completely rewritten the text for this post. Purists would say I should have left the old and just added my correction to it. You can do that on your blog. I admitted my mistake. That’s enough.