Last year we had a Sharp-Shinned Hawk hunting off of our bird feeder, right outside the kitchen window. It was an amazing sight, to watch it nail sparrows within 3 feet of our faces. It could clearly see us, and kept one eye on us, but it did not seem terribly bothered with our watching him. He would tear a sparrow apart and eat it so fast that we were stunned. They're small, so my guess is that they can't afford to take their time and lose a meal to a larger predator. I'm guessing it took him about 30 seconds to eat everything but the skin and feathers, and he would leave the bigger bones. Wasn't much left for the neighborhood cats.
The day after we watched this, we were on the front porch and he came back. This time he was terrorizing a squirrel on the cable/phone lines that run up/down the alley.
It was really funny to watch. He finally got the terrified squirrel pinned against a pole, then landed on the wire about 4 feet away. The squirrel kept looking over at us like he was saying, "Is he still there? I'm so fuckered." I thought the squirrel could whup the hawk's ass, it clearly weighed more, judging from the sag each made in the line. But, the squirrel seemed to know better. After about ten minutes the hawk got bored and flew off down the alley after a flock of sparrows. Squirrel ran straight down the pole and jetted up the nearest tree. The wife and I got a huge laugh out of it all, and learned that hawks have balls the size of grapefruit.
I watched falconers out in Colorado back in the 70's hunting with their birds, a Peregrine Falcon and a Red Tailed Hawk, and have always thought it was a fascinating hobby. When asked years later, I volunteered to build some flight pens for a raptor rescue group in this state, for the cost of materials. Last I heard, they're still in use.
Welcome to the buzz, and thanks for the information about the time and work involved with just getting to the point where you can legally own the birds. Amazing hobby.
