I pulled out of our driveway and went perhaps a quarter mile when I saw this Red Tailed Hawk in the top of a tree. With my long zoom lens I was able to get a nice close up look at the hawk. Of course, it probably saw me before I saw it and had its eye on me. I shot a few pictures and watched as it flew off. I didn't want to disturb it, but just stopping along the road is enough to convince them to move on. Of course, out in the country there is a lot of room for them to roam.

I don't think my daughter would be too excited to know it was that close to home. She would be concerned about her chickens. One day, she saw a hawk sitting on top of our son-in-law's shop. That might be just a bit close for comfort, since the chickens were down in the yard below.

Any hawk could be called a 'chicken hawk', because most would be happy to take a chicken. But according to Wikipedia: "In the United States, chickenhawk or chicken hawk is an unofficial designation for three species of North American hawks: the Cooper's hawk which is also called a quail hawk, the sharp-shinned hawk and the red-tailed hawk. The term "chicken hawk", however, is inaccurate." Technically, there is no hawk officially called a 'chicken hawk', though when I was a kid we called any hawk we saw a chicken hawk.

Note: I am sold on Back Button AF. It has really helped me to improve focusing accuracy.