Folded Shouldered Torments Tailed - Battle of the Reds

Last Saturday I enjoyed the spectacle of two hawks circling above my parents home in western Loudoun County. A red-shouldered, perhaps native to the neighborhood, dive bombed a likely-migrating red-tailed. Three generations enjoyed the viewing. Michael claimed he could see the hawks when I told him to "look above the cloud above Grandpa's house." My dad noted how much larger the red-tailed looked than the red-shouldered. He was right but the difference had more to do with what each bird was doing than their true size differential. The tailed was soaring with expansive wings and tail and the shouldered was gliding and diving with folded "shouldered" wings and closed tail. The lighting was perfect for noting the red tail and reddish shoulder of these birds.