Hawk or Eagle

by Rick
(Buford Ga)

Q. What kind of bird is this? About every 3 days it kills a squirrel and eats it on top of telephone pole.

A. This is a Red-tailed Hawk. The field mark that helps determine this is the streaked belly band you can see just between and slightly above the legs in this photo. Red-tailed Hawks eat a variety of prey including insects, lizards, rodents and squirrels - as you have witnessed. Whatever is easiest to catch is what they'll eat.

Here's more information about the Red-tailed Hawk and
Red-tailed Hawk Identification.