Suzanne you left out the part about: The brown stinky stuff in the road you just ran over is manure either from the dairy farm down the road or the neighbor's horses. Great fertilizer also but it IS messy when it's thrown from tractor tires or it falls off the truck during transport. Don't put the top down on your cute little car and don't call to complain about it either. Welcome to the country. For Eagle fans here's a link for you. Click on live Eagle cam and enjoy. Here is a link that might be useful: Eagle Cam

HTown, don't be too comfortable with them. I've been feeding the ones in our yard off and on for awhile, but I never get too close to them. No matter how "familiar" you may be with them, they still have an instinctive distrust for people and they have the potential to be dangerous. Most people don't like them because they've had bad experiences with them, just like many other types of wildlife that invade or wreak some form of destruction on their property, and that's completely understandable. They can also be aggressive towards pets. I made a point of mentioning to my neighbors that there were raccoons active in our area. If you get to feeding them and slack off, they could move on to another property where they're not as welcome and that could have negative consequences for the neighbor, the raccoon or both. I'm not saying don't feed or enjoy them, but make sure you educate yourself on them before you get into it on a regular or semi-regular basis. Make sure there are no means for them to access your house including the roof and chimney, because once they know where the food is coming from they could try to find an easier way to get to it. It's best not to leave food for them near your house for this reason. One of the first things I did when I knew how much they came around was make sure they couldn't get on our roof from any trees, the area around our deck was sealed, and our chimney cap was secure. I added chicken(Actually smaller gapped fencing than chicken wire) wire around the opening to ensure there was no access.(Something I was going to do anyway to deter the birds that ended up in our living room.) This link I found can cover it a little more indepth. These are just tips, but they can be helpful. Feeding Tips I guess my message is it's fine to enjoy them, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself in for, as there are a few things to consider. :-)

Yes, your bird was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk. Looked like a big, nicely marked one. Sorry it took so long for someone to respond; I hadn't checked this forum in some time. Cooper's Hawks are Accipiters and Accipiters are built for ambushing and chasing birds around and about. I have read they do occasionally take smaller squirrels (such as Eastern Gray), but the vast majority of the time they stalk bird feeders to take birds. The squirrel probably felt safe challenging the Cooper's for that reason. Had that been a Red-tailed Hawk hanging around, there may have been a different reaction by the squirrel....

For the last several years, I have had a pair of Coopers Hawk, Red Shouldered and a Red Tail nest in the acres around me. For 2 yrs I was fortunate to have a gray phase red tail. I would say that as long as they feel safe and fed, they will be back.