We had a late (for us) breakfast and were still at the table at 8:30 when we looked up to see a towhee at our bird bath in the side yard. It's the first towhee we've seen in our yard! We hope it's not the last.
About 20 minutes later we were finished with breakfast and Ray was at the kitchen sink and I was still sitting at the table and reading the paper. Ray called the alert, "Hawk...hawk..." So I looked out the living room window and saw a red-tailed hawk sitting on our fence. We have seen quite a few red-tails on that fence, which is surprising (at least to us) because we have such a small yard. But one of the last times we saw a red-tail it had caught a dove in the yard and ate it in the back of the yard, leaving only feathers in the bark chips. So, while it's a small yard there are a lot of smaller birds to catch.
We are waiting for a small part for our bird cam tripod that Ray ordered. Hopefully, the next time a red-tail or a towhee visits us, we'll capture it on camera and share it with everyone. But, for the meantime, these two photos are from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site - highly recommended for photos, sounds and detailed information about birds and birding.
