Birdsong: I can certainly understand why you feel the way you do. In fact, I agree with your views 100%. I am saddened that we are all in the position of losing our tempers because this issue is so near and dear to our hearts, and we always feel that we are losing the battle (especially when facing the approaching season of Chemlawn ads). I think I pointed out to Dil in one post why we all feel as strongly as we do: . . . I have often seen posts on this board seeking information on how to lure and feed deer, raccoons, etc. only to later see the same people here seeking a solution when the natural reaction has created a nuisance. . . . so you can see why people develop strong opinions about this issue. However, after spending a couple of years reading, I believe that we all have a unique opportunity here. This kind of board gives us the opportunity to debate these ideas online for many people to read. I like to think that there are other people out there, like Dil (and probably each one of us at one time or another), who are similarly fertile ground. I think that when we do lose our tempers and get sharper than we want to, our argument loses power. I'm as guilty as anyone of losing my temper in this thread, but the amazing thing about Dil is that he hung in there. I personally think that takes a pretty big person . . . not to mention that Dil has promised to try to explain his new understanding to his neighbors. He won't win them all over, but he may convince a few. What more can we ask for? Afterall, what we are asking for is a paradigm shift. Our culture values making money and personal enjoyment above and beyond all else. So, we are asking for deeply-rooted cultural ideals to change. That won't happen overnight. Maybe I'm being way too optimistic, but I think if people did understand the common sense of it, some of them wouldn't do the things they do. The only way to hope to change people's opinions is to debate them respectfully. So, while I understand where your anger comes from, I hope you will rethink your approach. You obviously understand the issue clearly and have some valuable insight to add.

I've also seen hawks around here that look like cooper's but don't sound like them. I tried the sharp shinned and that's not it either. Books and internet need to also start noting juvenile bird calls. I've heard many odd hawk calls and no recordings verrifying ID. Maybe I'm hearing Juvy cooper's hawks too?

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

The landing of the bird near you is a bit of a concern. It shouldn't be doing this, although immatures sometimes have this inattention to external threats. This sort of thing is most often seen in hawks that have been kept illegally in captivity for a while, then released. They learn that humans aren't a real threat to them, so they hang around. In the worst cases, these birds have learned that humans provide food, so they think some food might be forthcoming. Under no circumstances ever place out any meat for this hawk. It needs to learn -- as it will sooner or later -- that it should stay away from humans. It also needs to learn to stay away from your aviary and bird feeder, too. But it's winter, and live, warm food is right there in full view, if not in full vulnerability. For a young hawk trying to make it through its first winter, this will prove to be an insurmountable attraction. The hawk may hang around all winter. But when the days start getting noticeably longer in March, it will respond to ramping migratory urges and head north. It would seem that as more and more of us buy and create rural homesites (as I did), red-tailed hawk populations ought to be threatened or declining from a lack of available habitat. But for this species (and for Cooper's hawks, too), this isn't the case. There are more red-tails alive today than probably at any other time. In presettlement times, red-tails lived only on the open edges of the primal forest (in the East). As the Eastern and Midwestern forests were openned and converted to farmland, the red-tail population expanded. Red-tails can't live in an unbroken forest. They require open land. But until the last ten or twenty years, red-tails were commonly shot or trapped in many rural areas, suppressing their populations. No longer. Very few are shot any more, and very few are trapped. The greatest problem immature red-tails have is finding an open, unoccupied nesting territory. There are now so many adult, breeding red-tails that immatures rising to adulthood frequently can't find any open habitat in which to mate (form a pair bond), build a nest, and raise young. In short, there is a housing shortage out there for red-tails. There are large numbers of experienced adults who have saturated the countryside. Your bird is not guarenteed of ever becoming a parent. For this winter, though, it's having a glorious time watching your caged animals. The hawk is only an adolescent. In a year or so, it will grow up and attempt to attend to adult matters.