Red-tailed hawks perched on top of ITC transmission line tower
Dec 4, 2011 West Bloomfield Township, Michigan
photos by Jonathan Schechter

Red-tailed hawks adapt well to changing conditions and take advantage of human created
 landscapes.  Closely cropped lawns in summer offer easy hunting for careless squirrels and 
plump rabbits. And when trees with excellent viewing vantage points are scarce there is nothing
like a transmission  tower for a bird's eye view of the landscape. These two young red tails ( most
likely siblings)  keep watch over a seemingly barren marshland near the new West
Bloomfield Trail Extension.  My best guess is the muskrats that still waddle up onto the banks 
 in the waning days of  December  are on the menu as meaty fur-coated moist entrees
 for the red-tailed hawks, the air patrol of our sky on the dawn of winter.