Backyard Red Tailed Hawk - December 27th

 We have always had an abundance of Red-Tailed Hawks in out neighborhood, probably because of the even greater abundance of rodents. Today I saw one perched in the Japanese cherry tree in our backyard. It was in the same spot that a Barred Owl used to sleep alot during the winter of 2019, until local noise pollution scared it off, and I've never seen it since. After I took 5 pictures, it spread it's wings and flew to a branch much higher in the tree, and I gave up. When i came back to check on it, it was gone. I hope it makes it to spring. Here are the photos:

The hawk dove off the limb and flew across the street into a big Norway Spruce in one of our neighbors yard. It wasn't me that scared it off, it was a cawing mob of Blue Jays. Hawks and other birds of prey are very regularly the victims of swarming by smaller birds. These small birds know that Red-Tailed Hawks mostly eat rodents and snakes and usually wont go into the trouble of killing them. When they do eat birds, it is usually doves, chickens, or pigeons, because they are easier prey and have more meat. Birds have evolved to defend their nesting terrotories, regardless of the intruders size. 

Other birds of prey are more suited for predating on birds, like Peregrine Falcons, Coopers Hawks, and Sharp Shinned Hawks. This is because they are lighter, faster, and quieter. A Cooper's Hawk actually killed one of my neighbor's chickens last winter. I remember it tearing little strips of meat from the dead hen.