[texbirds] Hawk ID help please and snakes in trees!

From: Mt Woman <mtwoman55@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:18:18 -0500
The other day, I took a walk up-river out here in Horseshoe Bend. I hiked about 
2 miles just on the outside of the neighboring ranch's fence. It is a fairly 
deeply overgrown trail (mostly a deer trail), but passable this time of year. 
When coming back, I spotted a woodpecker in a tree and took some photos of it. 
When I got home, I uploaded the pics to my PC, and was zooming in and cropping 
one of the woodpecker and noticed in the background behind the bird: a snake 
(or two) in the branches of a tree!!! I had not seen them when I was taking the 
photo. It/they were at least 18' off the ground. I know snakes climb trees, 
especially the Texas Rat snake, but these being so high up surprised me...and 
gave me the hee-bee-gee-bees. 
I would also appreciate a positive ID on the Woodpecker.....hard to tell if 
it's a Downy or Hairy. 
See pics here:  http://www.pbase.com/mtwoman/woodpecker_and_snakes_in_a_tree 
I apologize for the poor quality photos, I just can't seem to get the camera I 
have to do well in this sort of shot.

Also on this trek, I came into a small clearing, and a hawk was on a low branch 
about only 5 yards in front of me. It did not leave or show any sign of concern 
about my presence...until I reached in my pocket for my camera, then it flew 
only a few yards more to another low hanging branch, about 7 feet off the 
ground. I was able to move to within just a few yards of it, and it stayed on 
its perch. It seemed to be scanning the grassy floor of the area for a meal. I 
spent about 25 minutes with it, just taking photos and watching it. At one 
point, it began emitting some small squeak sounds, that grew louder when 
answered by another bird across the river. In about 3 minutes, the other bird 
flew in and landed in another tree, higher up.  My take is that it is a 
Red-Tailed Hawk, but I would appreciate a positive ID.  

Photos can be seen here:  http://www.pbase.com/mtwoman/hawk_id_please 
And I apologize again for the poor quality photos.
I also have a video of the hawk flying and sounding, which I can email if 
anyone is interested.
Tzila "Z" DuenzlHorseshoe Bend AirparkSW corner Parker CountySW of Weatherford, 
Texas
                                          
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[texbirds] Hawk ID help please and snakes in trees!

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