I love the hawks that sit in the tree a few buildings away from mine. On stressful days, it’s really nice to look out my office window and see them hanging out and scanning this side of campus for “rogue were-squirrels” to feast upon. Sometimes there is only one and lately there have been two (I think they’re married…heh).
I finally brought in a pair of binoculars (thanks Clannus Austinus!) so I could get a better zoom on them than my camera would yield and was able to ID them. They’re red-tailed hawks. According to some sites (on teh interwebs) they weigh between 1-4lbs and can have a wingspan up to 4ft! My two hawks are 2+ years old as their tailfeathers are red and not brown. Apparently when they dive for prey, they fly as fast as 120mph!! They eat prey that is racoon-sized or smaller (Carrie- make sure to keep Ramses on that lead!!). They live a fairly long life in the wild- 10-15 years (20-23 in captivity). Very cool.
