Hawk sighting

I was off work today, and had some errands to run. While getting ready to go, I heard a hawk calling near the house. VERY near the house. I looked for her, and saw another hawk getting ready to light onto a tree over my driveway. About then, I heard the first hawk scream again, and sure enough, there she was (I'm assuming gender, here, as a) I can't tell whether it's a male or female just by looking at that distance, and b) it could have just as easily been male--I don't know their calling habits well enough to say). Both were sitting in the neighbor's tree, on a branch above my driveway.

Sadly, my cell phone's camera memory was full. By the time I got a picture deleted, both hawks had flown away.

I've been hearing them calling in the neighborhood for a while, but rarely get to see them. Their call is more of a scream than the calls of songbirds--it's quite distinctive. I love seeing the big raptors around. They are quite attractive birds (well, the carrion fowl are not so pretty, but they serve an important function in nature).

Hawks are pretty timid, apparently. I often see them being chased by crows, despite that a hawk could easily turn on a crow and take it out of the sky if it wanted. Hawks are opportunistic feeders, too. I once saw a youtube video of a kid playing with his pet rodent on the backyard picnic table, only to have his pet taken by a hawk that was quick on the draw. The video may or may not have been staged, depending on which of the attached comments you choose to believe, but it looks pretty much like what I've seen them do.

My errands took me to Home Depot, then on to Hikes Point for some CPAP supplies, then a stop at Feeder's Supply for dog food, then a search for a replacement for the mattress foam inside the dog's bed. The latter is proving to be hard to replicate--I measured the thickness at 2 1/2", but 3" "eggcrate" foam found at Gould's Discount Medical supply was not as thick. The search continues...