Close call!

by Sharon Vieira
(Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada)

I am not positive that the bird of prey that I saw was in fact a Red-Tailed Hawk, but the description seems to match.

Everything happened so fast. Most of what I saw was the underside of the bird which was the speckled brown feathers and the large wing-span as he attempted to change directions when he saw me.

I had let my Shih-tzu out in my backyard while I got ready for work. Just before leaving, I opened the back door to let him in. I did not see him at first, so I stepped out the door and craned my head to see if he was by the pool.

I spotted him and was about to call him in when to my left a large bird swooped down and noticed me at the last minute.

It attempted to change it's direction and bumped into our large wooden gazebo in the process.

He was only about 10 ft away from my dog Mason. Now Mason is 11 lbs, so I am wondering if the hawk would have been successful at picking him up if I had not intervened. Mason is also almost all black and likes to hang out on the white concrete by our pool which would make him very easy to spot.

Will the hawk try again?

Hi Sharon - I'm not sure whether this hawk will try again, and I doubt that he would have been able to fly off with your dog, but keep your eyes open for the next week or two, just to be safe!