I am so so terrible at hawk ID's, but I am gonna guess anyway! How about a Red Tailed Hawk? Sure looks like a red tail in the second pic!!!

Thanks! I think you are right, from what I have read, it makes sense, and I listened to the calls that the redtailed hawk makes and sounded like the calls this one was making, he was pretty loud, lol.

YAY!! You are welcome! I think that Cooper's Hawks and Sharp Shinned Hawks are worse where bird eating is concerned. I think that these guys mostly go for small mammals. If I am wrong, someone here will correct me. I suppose any hawk might go for a bird, but I don't think it's the first choice of this one.

Yes, I read that buteo hawks are not really the bird hunting kind, so I feel better about the red headed woodpeckers that have a nest on the oposite side of the office! There were Seven hawks circling the complex yesterday around noon! SEVEN! it was something to see!

Hawks don't hunt in groups....what you were seeing was buzzards.

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean they were hunting, they were just gliding around in circles, very, very high, from what I have read, this is common behavior for red-tailed hawks around this time of year and has something to do with mating. I was able to get a good look with my binoculars and they were definitely hawks. They have been doing this lately, more so on sunny days, usually at least two, sometimes more, but that day there were more of them than I have ever seen! Very pretty!

That is really exciting stuff alrighty!! I would sure love to have seen those 7 hawks! There is such a difference in the flight patterns, that vultures are easy to spot once you have watched them fly.

You were correct, it is a Red Tail, that particular one in the photo looks to be a female (females are larger than the males). They do not typically eat birds-if there are plenty of small rodents around they would eat those waaaay before going after birds! Hope this helps clarify-enjoy the wildlife in your area-sounds like it is pretty exciting! :)