I had been trying for a couple of months to capture an image of this hawk. I had packed up for the day at the ponds where I was taking images of waterfowl. I was driving down the road and caught a glimpse of something sitting in a tree. I hit the brakes put my truck in reverse and drove past it yet again! Surprisingly it didn't fly off and I saw it was a red tail. I hopped out of my truck, stumbled and managed to get my wits about me again and then managed to get off 3 shots. All 3 were crystal clear, I was shocked! This is the takeoff from the branch.