I finally have a bloom and the mystery is solved. :) Turns out it's Lychnis arkwrightii. I'm anamoured with it's beautiful, deep burgundy foliage color! Out of all of the pics I could find, none do it justice or show how intense the color is. I sure hope the other two bloom and give me some seed, although I need to decide on better placement - this thing sticks out like a sore thumb against pastels. Oops! lol.

Took these a while back and never got around to posting them, ran across them again today and thought I'd see if someone could help me figure out what kind of bird/raptor this is, some photos are in a set, but there are a few more which aren't in set that show a second bird flying in around tree, assuming it's a parent bird but idk, this bird almost looks to be a hawk of some kind with no head feathers, or does to me anyway. Any help appreciated! Thanks Here is a link that might be useful: Mystery bird pics

Quacker4duck, it was a clear day. When the hawk flew, I tried to track it. That is in the foreground and is either a blurred branch or part of the car! But it does look somewhat ominous. . .

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