Red-Tailed Hawks

I was out taking some landscape photographs a couple days ago, walking back and forth across a bridge...  to and fro each side of the road while following some birds...   (some of those images will follow)  ...when suddenly I noticed a lone red-tailed hawk sitting in a tree across a field.  I realized it had been silently watching me the whole time!  My instantaneous reaction, as always, was to quickly shoot, but as soon as it saw me raise and point my lens on it, it immediately took to the sky.  I found it fascinating that it seemingly knew my intent at the exact moment I focused on it, therefore purposefully flying away.  This was the one and only shot I got.  When I viewed it later on, I liked the image even more because of the bareness of the picture--a good depiction of the stark winter day. 

Today, driving very near to my home, I caught, out of the corner of my eye, a very similar and familiar scene.  It was the same-shaped figure sitting among more densely-branched trees, and I recongnized it immediately.  I got out of my car and walked pretty close to this hawk and not only did it allow me to take a few (okay, many) pictures, but it also fanned out it's tail feathers for me, almost like a young lady would spread her skirt in a curtsy, just before lifting it's wings in preparation for take-off.  It then flew directly overhead (toward bluer skies) and across the lake to another cluster of trees.  Here's the sequence:

                   Here are a few of the landscape images...  and some of the birds I followed that day.

While taking the above pictures I heard the loud chatter of a pair of kingfishers.  You always know when a kingfisher bird is around, once you can identify it's sound.  I was able to follow one that perched on a nearby tree for a moment before flitting off in it's usual zigzag flight pattern.

                                                  Canadian geese waded in the frigid water.
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Delightful chirping signaled that there were eastern bluebirds around!  I spotted this pair, then caught the male in flight.

                               Off to another part of the same river, I came across this small island.

                                           Can anyone identify this bird?  It sang a pretty song.

                     This old silo caught my attention as well as the tree in the following picture after that.

A steady chirp called my attention to this downy woodpecker just as I was returning to my car for my journey home.