I saw something similar to this in 1987 south of the Arizona, New Mexico border in August of that year.  A great Gila monster was huge, about 3 feet long and the hawk (white tailed type) was watching from a tree nearby.  It had just rained that night and day and this was near 8:00 am in June of 1986.  It was a very colorful sight to actually see this.  This picture was painted from memory.  But, do have photos I actually took but were lost due to issues.