Description
A red-tailed hawk coming in to land at Oaks Bottom, caught against a sky full of gold and cloud. Wings thrown up and forward to kill speed, tail spread wide as an airbrake, both feet already reaching out ahead of the body with the talons open. The low sun is coming through the flight feathers from behind, which is what lights the whole underside of the bird.
Everything in this frame is happening in under two seconds, and every part of it is doing a job. Those raised wings are not for lift — they are a stall, deliberately dumping airspeed. The fanned tail adds drag and holds the body angle. And the feet swing forward at the last moment because a hawk lands with its landing gear, absorbing the impact through the legs rather than the chest.
One detail worth noticing: the tail here is pale and finely banded rather than brick red. That makes this a juvenile — red-tailed hawks do not grow into the red tail until after their first year. So this is a young bird still flying the banded tail of its first season, and still working out exactly how much wing to give a landing. It is doing a creditable job of it.
This is the most familiar hawk in North America, the one on the fence post and the freeway light, and it is also the most frequently misidentified — not by sight, but by sound. That piercing scream that plays over every soaring eagle in every film is a red-tailed hawk. Hollywood decided long ago that the bald eagle’s actual squeaky chitter would not do, and dubbed in this bird instead. The eagle got the fame; the red-tail did the voice work.
This is a high-resolution digital download of the photograph, made at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Oregon — yours to print for your home or office, set as a wallpaper, or simply keep. Of the raptor photographs in this collection, this is the one I would hang large.
What you’ll receive: a high-resolution JPEG, approximately 3840 × 2560 pixels — sharp enough to print at full photo quality up to about 12.5 × 8.5 inches at 300 DPI, and considerably larger for wall display. Delivered as an instant download the moment your order is complete.
License: Personal use only. Print it for your own home, use it as a wallpaper or screen background, enjoy it yourself. Not licensed for commercial use, resale, redistribution, or AI training. © Jonathan Swanson / JonSwan Productions. All rights reserved.