I would welcome that visitor any day.

-Babka

I guess it would keep the squirrels at bay.

I would love that visitor as well, but not that close to a loved one.

I'm not sure if this is the same kind but we live next door to a huge oak with a hawk's nest..we see hawks a lot..they've never harmed any pets or people as far as I know..I've lived here 13.5 years and have never had a mouse inside..I'm thinking the hawks keep the rodents down..I think the funny spot in this pic is an out of focus squirrel..up near the top directly above the hawk..I didn't notice it when I took the pic..

That looks like a juvie red tailed hawk. The juvies do not have a red tail like the adults do, and their eyes are yellow vs. the dark brown the adults have.

Cool! Owl in winter. My wife got the shot off before it flew away. We see them more often than any other type of bird of prey in our neighborhood.

Don, that is so cool! I've seen various species of owls in my travels. Here, in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, I've seen a saw whet and a screech owl. Years ago, on Jones Beach (in Long Island), I was privileged to see a real rarity: a snowy owl stopping off on its arctic migration. Man, that thing was like 2 feet tall and simply gorgeous. In Ohio, I saw long eared owls and in New Mexico, I saw burrowing owls.

Owls are awesome..it's hard to see but my profile pic on Gardenweb is a barred owl..I took this pic in my backyard..it was thrilling..I took a screenshot and tried to edit it but it's fuzzy..

I'm a raptor freak. I would have gone bananas if one was that close. At my house, the only hawks that get that close are cooper's hawks (they like to eat small birds). Sadly, none of the hawks in this area have developed a taste for squirrel. I wish they would.

Nice owl pics too. I'm so jealous!

I need to borrow that lovely creature to take care of two baby rabbits in my back yard, arrrgghh.

Sherry

here's a crude story..was sitting on my garden seat..a hawk landed on a branch above me and dropped a load of bird doo on my head, shoulder and back..I went to my husband to wipe it off..he said "it's too much..go take a shower"..I should've taken a pic to prove that I'm NOT exaggerating..2 on my arbor..

"it's too much..go take a shower".. ...That made me laugh! :-)

sandyslopes..it really was gross..to see a pic of it WOULD be funny..isn't it crazy that the hawk picked THAT tree (so many choices here!!) AND sat in the perfect spot to drop it on my head..sounds deliberate lol..

tj..great pics!!..so funny that both the dogs and the hawk are unconcerned about each other..

Coopers hawks prey on small birds. Notice how this one set itself up near a bird feeder. For them, a bird feeder is like a buffet, as the poor little guys get nabbed when they answer the siren call of seeds for the taking. Too good to be true, and the price is their lives.

Great shots, guys!! I don't see the larger birds in my yard. Lots and lots of little ones though. Have been trying to catch a hummingbird on camera lately. They are so cautious though. Yesterday one saw me try to reach for my camera. He came up to my face, within 1.5 feet, and observed me for about ten seconds while I just froze in place in order not to have him disappear. He decided I wasn't necessarily a threat so continued investigating my deck flowers, but kept an eye on me so I stayed still.

Esther- to the right of the feeder is a 20 foot tall fir tree which offers great protection for feeding birds. Never saw the Cooper grab one from there yet and I spend a lot of time on my porch back there.

tj

I haven't seen our hawks attack a small bird either (could've but I haven't seen it)..but I HAVE seen one with a squirrel and one with a snake..and I found part of a frog and a partial skull of a rabbit?..and I've seen them flying to the nest clutching small prey but couldn't tell what..

My biggest garden predators, as you all well know, are the "landscape workers". So far this year, they have sprayed weedkiller on the lawn adjacent to the garden on a windy day and caused devastation on the front row of heucheras and a couple hostas, they have bashed in my brick and stone border wall in several places, and they have crushed a couple of I.D. tent stakes.