Holly: Very cool photo of the Sharp-shinned in the snow looking for a treat; I'm glad that the small birds have that row of cover in the background. I guess the Hawks get hungry too; they are pretty smart to hang out around yards with feeders where they can find a quick and easy meal. I see hawks around here all the time and it's interesting to watch all of the songbirds take cover. The Blue Jays loudly screech and screech, the Northern Cardinal's take cover and make a constant chattering sound while other birds just perch in the heavy foliage of shrubs or trees hiding in silence.
Margaret: I love seeing your bird photo's and those of the hawks are no exception, great shots!
I never knew that hawks would flush small prey from ground level, I've only seen them fly in from on high to catch their prey. A couple of years ago I was out in my backyard and a hawk flew so fast right past my head that it scared the beejeebies out of me. It got a dove and landed in a tree for a few seconds before taking off with it's prey.
These are two old photo's from 2011 or 2012. Someone identified the first one for me as a juvenile Cooper's Hawk; it caught a dove for lunch and it was really interesting that it let me walk up to within @ 5 or 6 feet before flying away. The second one was ID'd as a Coopers also.
