Greetings,

My apologies on the lateness of this post. A few days ago my father told me of a hawk attack he witnessed in the back yard. He stated that an accipiter, either a Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper’s Hawk- as they have both been in the neighborhood lately- attacked a passerine on the ground. He stated that the hawk worked on the prey for a few minutes before flying off with the carcass.

Upon being told this I investigated the scene of the attack and of course found a large amount of contour feathers from the body as well as flight feathers (primary and secondary). I was also able to find the legs of the bird, and as you can see in the photo below, they were picked fairly clean before being removed from the carcass. Not a lot of feathers had any color other than gray, and that coupled with the size and color of the feet make me believe that the bird attacked was likely an American Robin. If for some reason in looking over the photos any of you have a more likely suggestion, please comment and let me know!