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I love raptors. We have several different species of hawk up here in the woods and on the cliffs. They are really smart bird-when it was really cold with rain/sleet/snow late last winter, I saw a large Gray Hawk catching fish from the lake. It did that for several days, until the weather warmed and the rodents it normally hunts came out of their burrows for some sun.

When we lived in the city, I was president of a nature park support group. At our last annual park cleanup, we had a falconer who owns the local raptor sanctuary located in part of the park bring several hawks and two eagles to demonstrate their hunting skills (using lures with meat scraps) to the volunteer workers. Before he began his demonstration, he asked that everyone who had brought a dog, especially a small one put them in their vehicle. As he was about to fly a big Redtail, a woman came strolling up with two tiny Yorkies, which began yapping at the bird. That really got the hawk's attention-I swear it was salivating, and the handler was having quite a time quieting it down. He finally put a hood on the hawk, turned to the woman, and reminded her that he had asked for the dog ban for a reason, then said "However, if you're wanting to be rid of the dogs, then I'll take the hood off this hawk, give the dogs a running start, and we will have sport, indeed!" We all burst out laughing, and yelling "Go for it"! The woman hustled her dogs away at a forced march. Pity....