Go see Cal. Or not.

As in Buteo jamaicensis calurus; the western subspecies of red-tailed hawk. Or at least that's what I wanted to call this especially pale-breasted bird before reconsidering the I.D. Could this be an example of the southwestern subspecies, B. j. fuertesi, named for famed bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, master of avian portraiture? A coworker feels it's not pale enough to be a Fuertes. Either way, check out the little patch of windblown, out-of-place breast feathers.

Oh, and overhead utility lines made a startling photographic comeback right after I said I was glad to have had a shot of a raptor free of them. It's not my fault - the buteo took wing moments after I took this photo, but my digital camera's maddeningly long shutter lag kept me from getting off a second shot before the bird went out of sight over the house.