Love hawks, all of them. Red Tails are great! I took this picture of one standing on the road as I came around the corner. I parked and walked over to it, getting close enough to it to get this!
It did not like that I was there, but I have observed that hawks will not leave food to attack you. They are going to stay with the meal, or carry it off if they can.
Like this BIG red tail that carried this rabbit off right outside my trailer at work. I saw something big flash by my window, and immediately ran out to see. This is what I recorded:
That was the biggest Red Tail I have ever seen, and I was impressed as it flew off, with the way it casually reached down with its other talon and secured the payload. Damn. That thing was almost the size of an Eagle!
That is a big redtail, all right. Those (and owls, and coyotes) are why our cats stay inside. There are some cats that roam near here, but you don’t see the same ones for long.
I had a red tail sitting on my back fence not long ago. I’m sure it was hunting the squirrels, which are abundant since my outdoor kitty passed. Mostly I have mockingbirds, seasonal cardinals, and small birds. I live in a small rural subdivision and my backyard borders a small wooded area.