Mika - I noticed the tail feathers, too, as well as the gray back feathers. Definitely NOT a Red-shouldered Hawk which I have seen numerous times over the years in my backyard.
Even though these are predator birds, I love seeing a species, I've never seen close-up, come to my yard. My list of sighted birds in my backyard is growing! I'm kinda excited.
I also killed another roof rat on my porch. I've tried conventional traps, but they don't work for me. I spent a few more $$s for a shock trap. It's battery operated. When the rat steps on the metal plate to eat the food at the end of the trap, they get electrocuted. Quick death that doesn't make the rats suffer but for a split second. I accidentally got zapped by it at one point and it does give off a nice little jolt. Enough to stop the heart of a rat. That is the second rat I've killed in it. I have it on my screened porch because the rats had chewed a hole in my screen. So now they come and go on my porch. Add food to the electro trap and check each morning. It is also good that it is not outside in the yard as I have other critters that I do NOT want to kill with that trap that are out and about in my yard. Only want to kill the rats!
I believe that it was a rat that the Coopers (?) Hawk was seeing in my yard yesterday. It totally ignored the squirrels and other birds and kept looking at the ground. I have no idea how many rats might be living around my property. My neighbor BBQs on a grill all the time and I know the dripping grease on the ground attracts rats, too, along with bird seed. (Though I keep the bird seed collecting on the ground to a limit every day.) Score 2 for the electro-trap. A great trap!
