This guy was munching on a squirrel in my front yard in the Northeast
U.S. a month or so ago. He was about 18" tall and actually let me get
within 6 feet or so to snap a few pictures before he decided to pick
up his lunch and go elsewhere. I saw him around 10 am EDT.

I was pretty sure that he was an owl, because his face seemed very
flat when he turned his head. However, I also thought that it was very
strange that he would be out at that time of the day. Our house is
surrounded by woods, and he was in the shadows right at the edge of
them -- although it was a very sunny day.

So, what is this guy???

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Clarification of Question by aceresearcher-ga on 02 Dec 2002 01:00 PST

Duh.

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/daviss/muncher.jpg

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Request for Question Clarification by nellie_bly-ga on 02 Dec 2002 07:01 PST

Ace,  

It's  a pteradayctl -- keep your $2 for pete's sake.
Thanks for the offer.

Nellie

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Clarification of Question by aceresearcher-ga on 02 Dec 2002 09:41 PST

nellie_bly,

You accidentally posted "pteradactyl" in the Clarification box instead
of the Answer box. Please re-post your Answer.

Thanks,

aceresearcher

It's a red-tailed hawk, most probably an immature.

thanks, Ace   :))

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Request for Answer Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 02 Dec 2002 10:09 PST

For those who are interested, here is the link that nellie_bly found
for me, and the links that I found using her Answer:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Photo/Images/h3370p3.jpg 

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html 

http://mercury.spaceports.com/~acadiana/injuredred.gif 

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/rtha1.jpg

Anyone else who has a good link to a similar picture is quite welcome
to post it.

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Clarification of Answer by nellie_bly-ga on 02 Dec 2002 10:22 PST

clarified for the record

Very fast, very helpful Answer! I wanted to know what this was, but I
didn't want to spend time looking for it, and it would have taken me
MUCH longer to find it, if I even found it at all. Google Answers is a
great service, and nellie_bly is a great Researcher!!!

I am definitely NOT an expert on birds, but I am pretty sure that's
not an owl, my guess would be a falcon, which are quite good hunters

Or an hallucination.

There's a lot of 'em around during the festive season. They're damned elusive, too.

Well, it doesn't have horns, so it can't be a dilemma. 

-K~