One BIG Bird

On my way back to school this afternoon, I was walking near the library and noticed that all the squirrels were making a horrible racket; not their usual pleasant and only slightly neurotic chittering, but rather a chorus of wretching caws coming from all directions above me.

Then I noticed why...

At first, the bird's face was pointed away from me and I thought from its broad shoulders and apparently wide head that it must have been an owl, but when I scuffed my foot on the sidewalk it abruptly turned and looked down and I saw instead that it was instead some kind of hawk or young eagle. I think it's head had appeared so wide because it was dang cold outside in the wind and it was snuggling down into its feathers trying to keep out the chill. I took this photo and did some searching online and my current best guess is it was a red-tailed hawk. Its tail wasn't showing any red, but I guess it could have been concealed behind other feathers. The only other local species it resembled was the broad-winged hawk and those are only about the size of a crow...this bird was definitely BIG!

I sat there for a few minutes just watching it. After a while it got used to my presence and turned away from me again. The squirrels however kept right on with their panicked squawking. Not that I blame them...if I were going about my business and suddenly noticed a grizzly bear hanging around the neighborhood I think I'd sound the alarm too!