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.

Y'all, if I never again see the puffed-up head of a venomous snake staring at me from a feathered fowl lying dead on the ground, that will be OK with me. You just don't know how close I came to that bird...and was bending over and reaching down to pick it up to dispose of it....before I saw the snake! I learned a lesson that is a good one for anyone out in a rural area.....don't attempt to dispose of a wild critter until you make sure it isn't harboring another wild thing. I also learned long ago that it is better to whip out the cell phone and call someone nearby to either come shoot the thing, or to at least stand and watch it for me while I go for a gun, because if you go inside to get the gun, that snake is going to disappear and you'll have to worry about it popping up and getting a pet or person some other day. I felt kind of bad for both of them.....the snake, after all, was only defending itself, and the hawk was just looking for a meal. None of our neighbors have ever seen a snake get a hawk, although plenty have seen hawks scoop down and pick up snakes. Around here, if you are firing a shotgun, you have to let everyone around you know why so they won't be worried that you are "in trouble" and need help. All our neighbors said they hadn't thought the snakes were up yet, so appreciated the warning....especially those with grandchildren or great-grandchildren visiting for spring break. Randy, I am starting to wonder myself. It is so darn warm here and all the critters are out and about--especially the frogs, toads and grasshoppers. My guineas are wearing themselves out chasing grasshoppers all day. They "collapse" on the lawn at 3 or 4 p.m. every day, fat and full of hoppers, and too tired to move. If the ten-day forecast looks good on Sunday, I may start planting warm-season crops, including tomatoes. Our air temps and soil temps are great here right now. I think it could be that this is our "one year in ten" that the weather cuts us a break! It is cool, cloudy and overcast here today, although those conditions are aggravated by the extreme smoke in the air. (County commissioners lifted the burn ban and everyone is burning brush piles, field stubble, etc. and our air is positively filthy with smoke and ash.) We're supposed to get rain, but it seems to be staying east of us. Dawn

Update on the two fledlings. They are doing well and pretty grown up. Parents are gone. They are still around my yard and get pretty excited when I mow the lawn. They usually find something that I disturb in the grass for them to eat. I decided to have some fun yesterday (too much time on my hands I guess) with them to get a closer look. I put a red hot dog on the lawn attached with fishing line far out in the back. No hooks by the way. I kept twitching it across the grass while they were perched above. You guessed it, one of them from high above dove down onto it where I could see it up close. He only ate a little of the dog though then took off. I did it again and the other one dove at it again. This hawk kept picking at the fishing line but didn't stay too long. I didn't have the camera handy, but what a sight to see it fold up its wings from high above to attack it. Oh, by the way, when I was about 12 yrs old,61 now, I used to have five of these Broad winged hawks as pets. I wish I could find the pic that was taken of me with one sitting on my shoulder. Thats it for now.

Your pictures are simply great! I am a falconer myself, although in Canada the laws vary from the united states and only some provinces allow the take of raptors from the wild. All I can say is that we all envie the americans for their right to trap passage birds!