Large red-tailed hawks are not a rare sight in our suburban neighborhood. Usually they sail silently, high over the tree tops, but occasionally one will perch on a tree limb or phone pole while searching for prey. Yesterday I stopped to look out the big back window and just by chance saw a very large swoop of wings - a red-tail who flew down to snatch a squirrel off the trunk of an ash tree - and immediately vamoosed with its meal. It happened so quickly that even if I'd had a camera close, it wouldn't have been possible to catch a photo. (Once a feisty red-tail seemed to be perturbed by our Siberian Husky, who circled underneath him - I could swear the bird dropped an arm-sized stick at that dog!)
Anyway, lately we've been spotting a smaller hawk but never close enough or still enough to make an identification. Then I saw this guy on the neighbor's lawn, eating away at his lunch. This time the camera was close and I stepped quietly out the door, but he startled and flew up into a tree. However I was able to get near enough to use a zoom lens and capture a picture - not a great one but reasonably good - and I think finally his identity was revealed: a Cooper's Hawk. The size of him, his long legs, the squarish head and the tubular body were the clues. Just call me Sherlock!
