Thanks so much! I've been discouraged about my new camera choice after looking at some early Canon EOS 7D bird photo samples..soft images, over exposed, noisy, EEEeew. I was upset, but DB comforted me by pointing out that the first poster had used a cheap Sigma lenses and lightened the image, and the second one had used a doubler. Then I found a professional photographer's website with photos taken using a 7D that were exquisite, but he could have been taking the photos from up close and using a pricey lens. The Canon EOS 7D reviews are full of glowing praise, so I don't know what to think. I checked a chatline and the consensus there was that it was the best thing for the price since sliced bread. Everyone had either bought one or was about to, and that once you spend 3 days reading the thick instruction manual and adjusting all the settings, you'll have increasingly better results with practice, and they seemed to all be delighted with it. Well, I have to have some sort of camera improvement; as it is, I've spent alot of time stalking ducks at the fish hatchery-crawling through weeds, lying in the grass to get as close as possible-yet the Canon 40D camera couldn't handle shadows or water well and most of the photos were barely usable even for ID purposes. Photos taken with the 7D-look great until you zoom in. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=33518247 Camera discussion group, reviewing their Canon EOS 7D experiences http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00V9r0

Wow, what great pics. You might post these on the general birdwatching forum so more people would enjoy them -- especially since he's eating a rodent and not a songbird!

It looks from here to be a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, as already stated. The tail on Accipiters is long with wide bands, and this bird has that. As for the differences between Accipiters, juvenile Cooper's Hawks have fine brown chest streaks that usually come short of the belly, and this bird has that. So, good call.

It's what I wish I could say it was, but that would be a once-in-a-lifetime sighting and the odds are highly against it. Let's say it did look exactly like the photos I have seen of them, except I do believe the bird I saw was smaller than they are described. Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy for considering that possibility.