Ann, this might help: Years ago, I lived in a tiny cottage behind a big house, with fields behind. We had a terrible hot spell, and a black snake (though probably not the same as a Tennessee snake) got into the cottage and took up residence between the metal shower stall and the wall (I discovered this while taking a shower, but I'll say no more about that...). My mother took to calling me on the phone and saying, "And how is Mr. Snake today?" And, of course, after she did that there could be no killing - I would see his little head poking out from his nook behind the shower, and I would be hopelessly anthropomorphic... So just try to think of them as Mr. Snake (or, of course, Mrs. Snake), and maybe you will feel more kindly towards them.

Feather, I'm also into photography. (Altho you can't tell it by the photos I am posting on this forum!! LOL) I just got a new zoom lens and I'm learning how to use it now. I hope to get lots of GOOD photos of birds, someday soon! I'm sorry you suffer from carpal tunnel. I have it too, but mildly enough that I can still draw. I'm planning on doing some bird drawings with graphite pencil, colored pencil, and water color. Those are my mediums of choice these days (I gave up oils and acrylics years ago). Did you do your artwork from photos or just from memory? I have to have a model or photo or I can't seem to get things right and I doubt that I can get a bird to sit still long enough to draw it! LOL Re: the hawks Thanks so much everyone for your input. I'm just not sure. I have seen photos of juvie red-tailed hawks that had lots of spots on their backs. To me the eyes don't look as hooded as the eyes of a red-shouldered hawk, but I would have to bow to your opinions because I've never seen one in person, just going by the photos I've seen! I'm on the lookout for more hawks...there's just something so cool about the raptors!!

NJTea: I live in zone 7 Maryland, and we haven't had any great amount of snow here, this Winter. Nevertheless, from my experience, just about any raptor will eat roadkill when hungry--at any time of year. Fresh killed roadkill is just an easy meal. To cite a few observances of mine: Traveling from Los Angeles to San Diego in the wee hours of the morning (about 30 years ago), in the middle of Summer, I rounded a bend on the freeway approaching San Diego, just after daybreak, and almost hit a Golden Eagle as it flew off a squashed Jackrabbit in the middle of a southbound lane. (I might also add that 30 minutes prior, I had to brake for about 6 Mexican (obviously illegal) aliens running across the freeway in front of me, right before dawn--not an uncommon sight in that area, in those days.) A few years ago, on a country road in Virginia in early Spring, I noticed in a powerline right-of-way, about 30 yards from the road, a Buzzard (Turkey Vulture) eating on a dead Cottontail Rabbit, while a Red Tail Hawk and a Crow, waited no more than 15-20 feet away, for their turn. I have no idea if the Hawk had killed the rabbit there, or it was struck by a car on the road and dragged itself there. It was the most unusual sight--for me--as I had never seen 3 different predatory birds (albeit, one, a scavenger) at a single rabbit carcass, in my life. (The following not about road-kill, but about gun-kill): A farmer friend in Virginia has a dove-hunt at his farm each year, on the first day of Dove season (which I believe is September 1), and invites about 40 of his friends to participate. Wheat or oats or rye, etc., are bush-hogged (cut) a week before the season, and the grain scattered, usually where power lines cross the field (a natural flyway for doves). Doves come to this scattered grain, and are shot by camouflaged hunters situated around the edges of the fields. Though the hunters attempt to find all the birds they shoot (they cook and eat the breasts), they invariably don't find them all. I have seen hawks--varying in size from Kestrals (though usually larger) to Red Tails--hovering, then landing on, or near the dead doves, and eating them--many times while the hunters are still shooting. As dangerous a situation as it is for them, It's just too easy a meal to pass up. I could quote any number of other examples of raptors on road-or-otherwise-killed animals; but I must say that I don't believe I have seen one on an animal as large as a deer (except Turkey Vultures). That was a nice sighting, Richard (and others, who have seen such things). As was mentioned, hunger is responsible for strange occurrences.

cheryllynn744: (The thread that will never end :-) Your question is what started this thread, lo, those many years ago. Best thing I've been able to do is to use one of those New Year's noise-makers that you crank that makes an ungodly noise--something the hawk has not previously heard that will freak him/her out. I have a stuffed owl up in my back yard, and it might as well not be there. For me, it worked fine for a week, and every bird in the vicinity was stressed out and came to squawk at it from a safe distance, and some were bold enough to get quite close. Couple of Bluebirds flew right above it, and hovered (as Bluebirds will) for a few moments, checking it out. But unless you move the decoy almost daily, songbirds soon learn that it is no threat to them, and they won't pay any more attention to it. Been there for about a year, and most of its feathers are gone, but it still has the silouhette of an owl--to no avail. -------------------------------------------------------- Recent hawk episode for me involved a dove nesting in my window sill. Doves--like pigeons--are "ledge nesters", and sometimes only place a few sticks on a ledge to keep the (2) eggs from rolling away. My dove built a little more elaborate nest, with lots of sticks forming a nest between my double-hung window and double-hung storm window, about 4 inches apart. I had the storm window raised about 10 inches, quite by mistake, and a dove nested there last year (between the 2 windows) and fledged 2 baby doves. Success! Another dove used the same nest this year, and added sticks to it. Unfortunately, the dove began setting on eggs about March 4th, where there were no leaves on the trees (yet) in my area, and the dove was more visible than last year. One morning about 2 weeks ago, I heard a THUMP on the window about daylight, and I opened the curtain and looked out. The dove was gone, the 2 white eggs were exposed in the nest, and a Peregrine Falcon was sitting on a tree limb outside the window, no more than 3 or 4 feet away. The Falcon saw me through the window pane, and flew off. The dove stayed away the rest of the day, and did not come back and begin setting on the eggs (again) until the next day. I thought it was rather remarkable that it even returned, after being attacked by a hawk (falcon). I had no idea how it survived the attack, since it seemed more-or-less trapped there, inside the two windows. But the THUMP sounded like the falcon hitting the window, so somehow, it slipped away. Maybe the falcon tried to attack from above, and hit the glass above the dove. I had an idea the falcon would come back and try again and sure enough, about 4 days later, another WHUMP on the window. Same result--I looked out, the dove was gone, the eggs were exposed, and the Peregrine Falcon was 3 or 4 feet away on a tree branch. But this time, I had gotten my crank, New Year's noise-maker out of the closet and had it on my dresser. I grabbed it, and ran up the hall and opened the front door as quietly as I could. The falcon was still sitting in the tree, and I eased out and cranked-out a bunch of raucous noise while running toward the tree, and the falcon freaked out and flew out of the tree. Unbelievable that the dove returned AGAIN, only a few hours later, and began setting on its eggs again, the very same day, after (somehow) surviving the second strike by the Peregrine Falcon!! Again, it sounded like the falcon hit the glass above the dove. The falcon did not return, and the dove continued setting for about 3 or 4 more days. Then one morning I heard noise in the window, and I peeped out to see the dove turning the eggs over beneath it, and it appeared to be examining them. Soon after, it flew away, and left the nest and the eggs, and did not return. After the dove did not come back many days later, it was obvious the dove had abandoned the nest, and I raised the window and got the 2 eggs out, and put them in my basement. I have an idea what I will find when I crack them open; I think I'll find 2 babies that were nearly ready to hatch until the dove flew away after the first falcon strike and stayed away for more than a day. I believe the eggs may have got too cold that night she was away, and the babies inside probably froze--or otherwise died wiithout their mother there to keep them warm. Shame that she spent weeks there, only to have it end that way. But amazing that she had the resolve to return after 2 falcon attacks and continue to TRY and hatch the eggs. And more amazing that she escaped with her own life. wt