Birds and Nature

.I birded parts of the Comanche  National Grasslands yesterday. As I drove slowly on a dirt road a few miles away from dispersed ranches I was surprised by this recently fledged hawk perched on the ground less than 25 feet from me. I watched quietly for a few minutes to see that it appeared uninjured and unconcerned about my presence.  I didn't see anything nearby where it might have left a nest and there were no other hawks around. I drove on with no apparent impact on it and it was gone when I drove back past it about 20 minutes later. I expect this is a young Red-tailed Hawk unless someone sees field marks I am missing.

Though mostly coal black a few specks of whitish feathering was visible near the throat area of the bird. I did not seen any white on it's face or rufous in the tail but my view of it perched was brief and distant. The shyness of this bird was incredible not only because of how far I was from it but the fact I remained in my car to reduce disturbance. SeEtta