I saw a bird in my yard with what looked like an owl body and an eagle
head resting on a tree branch.  It's coloring was brownish. It was
maybe 10 - 12 inches high. This happened on March 21, '04 just north
of Chicago, IL.  Any idea what I saw?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 23 Mar 2004 19:51 PST

Is one of these what you saw?

http://www.westwildcon.org/photo/gallery/hawk.jpg

http://www.serc.org/livinglabs/images/peregrine.jpg

tutuzdad-ga

The hawk owl has a head that resembles the head of an eagle or hawk:

http://www.owlpages.com/species/surnia/ulula/pictures/n_hawk7a_js.jpg

http://www.town.grandecache.ab.ca/album/wildlife/images/hawkowl.jpg

http://www.ictws.org/nrthrn%20hawk%20owl.jpg

Here's a link to Cook County bird watchers
http://home.xnet.com/~ugeiser/Birds/Birding.html

Nine chances our of ten what you've got is a red tail hawk. When they
sit back they look kind of rectangular (i.e. owl-shaped) and the head
is definitely hawk-like. Typically, you only see the red tail on
mature birds, and you only see it from the top (the "back" when
they're perched). The easiest feature to identify is a good sized hawk
with a buff colored front and a darker band running across the chest.
They are a year-round species in the chicago area.

As hawks go, red tails are pretty common, and in birding your first
guess is always the common species. But any hawk is a good hawk.

Enjoy your birds