Today was dump day, and after I'd finished unloading the truck, I drove downhill to a favorite trailhead that would lead me to the pathway up and around Lantern Hill. I love this hike, and though I was a bit sad to be walking it alone, I quickly had a nice conversation with a young mom hauling her toddler in a backpack, and in the course of talking to her, I noticed something on a nearby snag. As I changed lenses, trading the 85mm micro for the Sigma supertelephoto, I discovered that what I had in the viewfinder was a young hawk. The juvenile raptor had light patches on its shoulders—OK, scapulars, to be more scientific—and when I approached the tree, the bird turned and watched me. I took lots more pictures, figuring that it would spook and sail away in short order, but it held its perch and simply locked eyes with me and presented various enough angles that I was sure I'd be able to identify it. The shape suggested a Red-shouldered, which I'd seen earlier, but that white throat and belly band said, first-year Red-tailed. The plumage spoke volumes: Buteo jamaicensis it was.