In this area where there are pine trees, evergreens, raptors can stay all year long. They have shelter among the branches with foliage and food with squirrels and small birds galore. It's quite tricky to capture a raptor in flight in such an environment. I locked the focus on the bird as it's perched on a branch and waited until it took off. I followed the motion by panning the camera and shooting in a burst of 10 frames/second.