Can't say what kind of hawk it is but it could be a young one that hasn't achieved adult coloration yet. Young hawks tend to be bolder than adults and that may be why you could get so close. He may also have been invading the redtail's territory and that's why they were so upset. Just a thought.

Hi Jaylee77, Here a link to enature.com. You may listen to the hawks and try to recognize the one you heard. May be the Red-shouldered Hawk. http://www.enature.com/search/show_search_byShape.asp?curGroupID=1&shapeID=958 Luc

I suggest visiting Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All about Birds" webpage. You can listen to the calls of hawks (since you got to hear this suspicious bird's call). That might be the key to IDing this bird. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id The most educated answer I can give is that this is a dark morph red-tailed hawk. Its bill is just too broad to be a red-shouldered hawk (and I have not known red-shouldered hawks plumage to vary that considerably, as red-tailed hawks are known to do). Now the fact that you're in Florida is interesting since dark-morph red-tailed hawks are more known to occur in the Plains and western U.S.(see Harlan's hawks and western red-tailed hawks for images). So, unless this is a falconry bird that escaped, this is probably a rare bird to find in Florida. Would love to hear the opinion of a birding expert. This post was edited by TMFF on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 22:31

I agree with Elly and those of the Bird Forum, a Red-shouldered Hawk, adult. Luc