Thanks Konrad. Its a pretty dark picture. After searching for images on the internet, I think I'm inclined to think its a young starling. I read that both cowbirds and starlings walk instead of hop, so I'm thinking starling. There have been several adult starlings around, but never with this little one. Maybe I'll try to lighten the pic. I should have done that to start with.

peregrines have a larger "mask" on their faces and paler breasts, and shorter tails Cooper's hawk: http://animal.discovery.com/guides/wild-birds/gallery/coopers_hawk.jpg

Hi Konrad. Yep, you've got an immature Red-tailed Hawk there! Immature red-tails have heavy barring on the tail (which you can see in the top photo) and the eyes are a pale whitish-yellow instead of dark brown. Gorgeous hawk and nice pictures!

Not a Red-tailed Hawk - it's a Cooper's Hawk. See the Other thread. Claire