The cool thing about birds of prey is that even as big as they are, they make almost no noise when they fly, little tweety birds wings make more noise. I was walking around my back yard one night and felt this big swoosh right next to me, it was dark but I could see that it was a "big bird" swooping something off the ground, the only thing I could think of was an Owl, didn't make any noise, just felt the wind. I have Red Tails in my yard every day, though they do not nest here. I see them swooping down but usually come up empty, I have seen them cruising over head with a still alive squirrel kicking away firmly in their grip.
Ours are very timid and do not like people, they will fly off if you walk in the woods even if they are high up in the trees. the only time I see them together is when the young are with the mother, it's hard to tell since the are close in size, they must have a high mortality rate as I have found dead young on several occasions.
Found this young one having lunch one day last year, crawled up to within 3 feet of it, he did not want to give up that meal, must have been hungry. fluffed up his head and neck feathers to scare me and it worked, I stopped getting closer, when he did try to fly with his lightened kill, he only went about 40 feet and roosted on a pile of wood.
Pictures are graphic, hope they do not offend anyone.
