I have mainly Sharpies and Cooper's Hawks. On a rare occasion a Red-tail will soar through. They look so huge in comparison. I love seeing Hawks but I don't like when they take off with birds visiting my yard. Here's a Photo from my back yard from last year or 2. I believe it to be a Cooper's Hawk. I cropped out his meal for the post. :) Fascinating to see a group of Crows or Jays and their strategy, while chasing the Sharpie or Cooper's out of territory.
A number of years back, I took a ski trip to Collingwood, Canada with a friend of mine. Leaving Clinton Township which is a community 8 miles north of Detroit, we took I-94 E to Port Huron then the Blue Water Bridge into Canada. Along the way, virtually every single mile I kept pointing out to him a hawk along the expressway either hovering or perched in a tree. After the first couple of sightings, he then became aware of the surroundings and started sighting them for me.
The point of this story is that these hawks are everywhere, I can't for the life of me believe that they are an endangered species.
The week before the Christmas holiday I was driving into work and was now in Troy driving down Coolidge when a Sharp shinned hawk zoommed across the road in front of me just barely missing my car! He was on attack mode, how cool was that?
And 2 weeks ago I was heading home again on Coolidge and was stopped at a light when I saw a red tail hawk kitty corner from me across the street swoop down on something, probably a mouse.
When I mention these things to co-workers and friends, they appear dumbfounded since they never see such things. I have reached the conclusion that people who have no natural curiosity of nature pass by these daily occurances because their eyes and minds are not trained to pick up these ever so slight movements off to the roadsides or on the edges of wooded areas.
I live in a small condo complex which is now completely surrounded by subdivisions. At the entrance to this sub, there is a wooded area that at the most is probably a 1/4 mile square.
In the past year I have seen 5 deer, numerous pheasants, a family of beavers that dammed up the drainage ditch and had to be removed by the DNR, a couple of grouse, a coyote and many coyote tracks, and my neighbor who hails from Kentucky said she saw a flock of turkeys! All of this wildlife activity right smak dab in the middle of the fastest growing housing in S.E. Michigan. I'm not even going to mention the numbers of opossum and coon that I have live trapped and relocated...........
Now, you are both talking my language. Raptors are my favorite. Although I live in a huge urban area, there are lots of trees and other roosts -- such as tall buildings -- for hawks. I am good at spotting red tails, usually hanggliding the air currents, and always thrilled when I do.
And, as you say, GeeBee, there are times a mockingbird or raven will harass and chase off the hawk. What a hoot!