Last year I was sitting on my porch and I saw a Red Tail Hawk swoop down beside the far end of my deck. He came back up with a cat in his talons and flew off to a large oak to enjoy his snack. The cat was making an awful fuss.
Used to be a lady up the street who has since moved and one of her pastimes was rehabilitating wildlife and she did rehabilitate a red shoulder Hawk and after she moved that Hawk remained and that Hawk is still in the rural neighborhood and it is indifferent in regards to human activity. I like the hawk! I have voles and gophers and squirrels, the Hawk dines regulary on my street.
For sure. We have quite a few that circle our area and they have landed awfully close to our cats on more than one occasion. We also have falcons and once in a great while we get a visiting Bald Eagle. Quite impressive.
What with redtails, owls, and especially coyotes, our cats stay indoors at all times. Plenty of Gambel’s quail around despite the predators, though. I keep a couple of brush piles out back for nesting.
“He came back up with a cat in his talons and flew off to a large oak to enjoy his snack.”
Domestic cats kill vast numbers of birds in the United States. There’s always someone or something badder-assed than you.