Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tails are the commonest raptor in most parts of the United States.  they belong to the buteo family, which has several other members. The Common Buzzard (buteo buteo), widespread in Eurasia, is also a member of the family.

This individual is  high above the San Pedro House, in the tree visible in the small image at  the upper left in the link.  The building is the visitor center for a National Conservation Area named for the San Pedro River, which flows northwards through Arizona and thus serves as a crucial corridor for migrating birds--"two-thirds of the avian diversity in the United States, including 100 species of breeding birds and 300 species of migrating birds" (Wikipedia). The river is flowing well at the moment, after a summer monsoon season with above average rain several months ago. I seem to remember that on our visit in 2010 a few days less than five years ago it seemed nearly dry (although in the blip just linked to has no mention of it--I also got the direction and destination of the river wrong in that blip :(