Hey Dave- I grew up in Oakhurst and actually went to kindergarten at the Methodist Church. I was up and down Monmouth Rd. at least 6 times today and once I actually glanced up at the steeple remembering the day the put it up!! Very spooky!!! I always am amazed at the amount of birds in our area also. I now am in Shark River Hills (which kind of reminds me of Oakhurst) and I have quite the bird sanctuary in my backyard. I unfortunately do not have an awesome camera, as you do. I love raptors. I'm always driving on Rt. 18 looking at them soaring above-I have a convertible. I know...doesn't sound too safe!! There are many hawks in the area of Deal Rd.- just west of Logan. I guess with Palaia Park (Deal Test Site to me), there is plenty of room to nest. Keep posting those pics and hopefully you have some good painkillers for that tooth!!

So cool to watch. We had a nest of broad wing hawks in our yard.We watched them grow and I was there when they flew from the nest. They took off the same day.

It's sometimes a process, rehabber46, just learning (sometimes the hard way) what to do or not do. I see it all around me, the destruction of habitat as the city encroaches on the more 'wild' part of a county. People fleeing the 'city' move into portions of the county that were basically flattened and stripped of trees and shrubs, acres of it. Makes no sense to me, to be honest. Those bare and manicured yards are often kept that way with pesticides. Heck, we don't even spray for mosquitos. We just let the bats do the job for us. Right now, my yard is covered in tons of leaves. Many people don't know this, but some 300 species of insects (butterflies, moths, native bees, etc) overwinter in leaves, many of them attached to the very things most rake, mulch, mow, and clip away. Leaving leaves on the lawn, undisturbed, means far more beautiful and beneficial insects in the coming spring, and it also means more food for the birds as well. We've planted 2 plots of garden for hummingbirds and butterflies (and bees of course), and we've also planted native shrubs (additional ones to those already out there) for birds. American Beautyberry was our most recent. We have oaks that drop an abundance of acorns, several black cherry trees, maples, pine, and tons more. Even holly is beneficial to birds. As long as it's native, it's beneficial. As they say... fresh food, water sources, and shelter (for protection against predators and nesting), and you'll be helping nature thrive. Honestly, it's a lot less yard work when the shrubs are left 'scrubby' and the leaves are left until the temps are back into the 50's consistently, when raking is less harmful to what's overwintering in those leaves. I see more and more people going for the 'cottage garden' or 'wild garden' look for both just landscape.. and even vegetable gardens. I prefer the more messy and wild gardens than the sterile landscapes of most suburbs.

Could be. Here's what the breast of an immature Cooper's Hawk looks like. Only thing is, they're brown above, not light gray: The two-tone call you describe is atypical for a Cooper's Hawk, too -- their call is usually a series of one-note harsh keks. But if it was an immature, possibly they make a different call -- especially if they're frustrated while hunting for food. Behavior sounds more like it was hunting. It probably had seen something yummy-looking lurking in the tree and was trying to get at it. I wonder if you could have seen a Goshawk? The males are a few inches larger than crows, but length can be difficult to estimate. If there's a forest anywhere near you, it's a possibility -- they do breed in the NE corner of PA and winter in all of PA. Their display call is described by Sibley as a "wailing gull-like KREE-ah, repeated regularly. Juvenile begging call a plaintive scream kree-ah." I'm not sure that the recording I've linked below is that call, but there it is for what it's worth. Call at nest is described as a loud, cackling kye, kye, kye, which is what this recording may have captured. From the underside their tail looks rather as you've described it, and they do fly with their tails closed as well as open. When flying with tail closed, the shape is similar to a Cooper's Hawk -- the wings are a bit longer and thinner. > You can go to the Cornell site at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/ to hear sounds of the Cooper's Hawk (it's really annoying that this site doesn't convert URL's embedded in posts to links.) Here is a link that might be useful: Goshawk recording