Most of the time we only see these large hawks soaring high in the sky and we don’t get to see the distinctive coloration of the bird. I wanted to place the bird in an alert and inquisitive position ready to take flight and soar. There are a lot of color varieties of this hawk but the distinctive red tail of the bird gives it the name. This was a monstrous project because of the size of the bird, and the difficulty of the carving trying to capture the alertness of the bird by a slightly turned head. I wanted the viewer to recognize the readiness and the alertness leaving them with the sense that at any moment the bird could take off.