I'll go with Coopers too, in retrospect. Steve said "Kestrel" with such conviction that I just believed him without looking into it. It was definitely "big hawk" sized. I'm having a hard time understanding how he could have bumped into this window accidentally. You can't see it from this photo, but we have a rather overgrown red bud tree in this little interior corner of our house's exterior, so a bird has to land in the tree, turn around, and swoop down to reach it. He seemed very alert, and intermittently intent on attacking either Izzy's head, or his own reflection. (I couldn't be sure which.) He pecked at the glass with that beak and then flew against the glass with his talons extended. It was amazing to watch, and I was afraid he was going to shatter the glass. I watched him fly to a tree in our backyard afterwards. It did seem as though the bird was taunting the dog. And I burst out laughing the one time Izzy broke eye contact with it and glanced over her shoulder at me as if to say: "Shoot it! Shooooooooot it!" I've been out tonight, but Steve says Izzy's been patrolling the windows all evening. I swore I could smell the adrenaline surging through her during the encounter.

GGG -- Boo Boo Kitty sounds like she earned a well-deserved retirement after years of being on duty. I have my other two kitties relegated to the indoors for medical reasons. Someday Starbuck will have to retire but she's only about 4 so hopefully she still has years of service to my gardening cause ahead of her. rjinga, love your babies too. Especially the white one staring into the camera. So far I haven't been able to train A.J. to stay out of my daylily field so I feel your pain. I can't tell you how many buds he's broken as he bounds by. He only showed up on our property as a starving pup last April and we're still working on some "issues". At the end of daylily blooming season last fall I put nylon pantyhose footies over all of my developing seed pods that I hybridized just like I always do to protect them from insect damage. Well, A.J. must have gotten bored and thought they looked fun to play with so when I got back from work one day I found somewhere between 30 or 40 nylon stockings littering my field, complete with huge broken off seed pods inside, slightly chewed of course. I could have killed him!!! All that time spent planning my crosses, gathering pollen, pollinating and waiting...all for nothing. Aaargh! I would have had far fewer casualties with the bugs, so this year no panty hose. Eventually maybe I'll get it fenced off with low voltage electric wire and hopefully he and any hungry deer will get the hint quickly. He only knows the difference between cats and everything else that moves. He actually ran down a HUGE wild turkey that just happened to walk out of the woods one day while we were on a walk. That was the day I learned my sweet, submissive wouldn't-hurt-a-kitten stray pooch had some serious hunting dog in his gene pool. The turkey and I just stood there and looked at each other for a minute, we were both so surprised by the other's sudden appearance. But the instant he got nervous and decided to run away he was doomed. A.J.'s chase instinct kicked in and they both disappeared over the hill just as the bird took flight low to the ground. I was concerned about the dog because those turkeys can actually inflict some serious damage when threatened. I looked and looked for him for over an hour with no luck. Finally later that evening I walked out of the house to look for him again and he was laying in the yard next to a giant turkey carcass. I was shocked! Not only had he killed it but he dragged it back home over a mile and that bird was much bigger than he was! So....who's craving a turkey sandwich? Danielle

I own a small yorkie poo and and when I met a guy this summer when we were camping, he told me his sister used to own one that looked like her. She was mowing her lawn and her dog was at the other side of her lawn. She said a hawk (I'm wondering if it may have been a golden eagle?) came down, grabbed him in his talons and carried her dog away. She never saw her dear pooch again. My small dogs never go outside alone. I stand right beside them and always have a shovel or rake nearby. I worry more about nasty dogs coming around since they aren't afraid of humans, but whatever tries to take my dogs will have an indent from my shovel if they ever try.

I'd say not a chance on a 16lb Rat Terrier being taken by a large raptor. They can't take off with it and the small dogs make tons of noise. I have a 17lb Boston Terrier and most living things are afraid of her, including the FEDEX guy. I'd say you have nothing to worry about.