Participant Photo: Sharp-shinned hawk

I saw the hawk in the backyard and at first thought it was a Cooper’s Hawk, but the size was a bit too small. This hawk stayed in the shrubbery hiding for a good 45 minutes, twice chasing after squirrels, but they managed to get away. He finally nabbed one of the juvenile male cardinals that was resting in the shrubs in our yard–not too far from the hawk. The way he got the cardinal was very sneaky. He flew off in the opposite direction of the cardinal and then circled back around, grabbing the cardinal from behind. He then soared over our neighbor’s roof briefly with the cardinal in his claws, and landed in the same shrub to eat! It was my first time witnessing something like this and I was standing just a few feet away during the entire event!!