OUR RESIDENT RAPTOR

 I'm not sure which one of these guys lives here: both are said to be quite acrobatic with the Cooper's a bit larger than the other, both have long tails. He loves coming down and skimming over the pool. The other day, I saw him whip under a birch branch:

Mr Hawk is represented by the red squiggle flying to the right. The yellow one is a sparrow wheeling a hard right to get the hell out of the way. 

Sparrow: "Oh fuck Oh fuck Oh fuck Oh fuck Oh fuck Oh fuck"

Hawk: "Heh, heh,  that'll give him something to tell the wife when he gets home." 

The next day was my encounter. 

I was working in the East Garden trimming the willows when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. The tithonia and willow branches arc towards each other and I swear this guy came in low under this arc pulling up over my head then executing a hard left while pulling up.

The next evening, we were having supper and he landed on one of the many wires that traverse the Back 40. He sat there for a few minutes, surveying his kingdom, then took a quick glide over the pool. "Hmmm"  said C, "I'm not too comfortable with a resident raptor around especially if he wants to go after heads." I felt like he was either a youngun showing off his flying skills or the new guy on the block trying to carve out his territory. Stay tuned.