A juvenile red-tailed hawk perches on a fire escape. Red-brick building behind. I came out of the grocery store and saw this hawk across the street. My hands were full of grocery bags and it was too far away for my cell phone. "Don't go anywhere," I admonished the bird. Hurried back home, grabbed my camera. Remarkably, the hawk was still there.

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A juvenile red-tailed hawk stands perched on a stone wall in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan. Red-tailed hawks are now common all over New York City after decades when they nearly disappeared. Despite their numbers, they eluded my camera, flying away as soon as I pointed my zoom at them, or teasing me by flying very close knowing full well that my camera battery was about to die. I swear it's true: they knew! In more recent years, they have been more co-operative. On a chilly December day, I stood on a flag platform in the park, shooting cityscapes in the distance. As I started unscrewing my monopod, this juvenile flew up and landed about 10 feet away from me. Fearing it would fly off before I could dismount my tripod, I awkwardly hoisted my camer up with the monopod still attached and fired away until it finally flew off. This is the best photo of that batch. How do I know it's a juvenile? The pale, yellow-green eyes. Red-tail eye get darker the older they get. The lack of the eponymous red tail feathers, which don't appear until full adulthood. And lastly, the fact that the hawk landed close to me. An adult would never land close to a human.

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