Bird ID help please.

[pikedreams]

A couple weeks ago I was sitting and watching a football game. Three feet outside the window I have a bird feeder which is pretty active all day. Out of the corner of my eye I see this flash and I run to the window. What I see is this guy with a sparrow pinned to the ground and he,'s picking feathers off of it like crazy! Then he grabs it and flys off. He plucked the thing right off the feeder! About 20 minutes later he came back and I was ready with the camera. Not a great shot, just a point and shoot. I'm not a bird guy so I'm hoping some of you can tell what it is. He was relitivly small about 12 to 14 inches tall.

[Dotch]

The resident hawk experts are probably still out at the bog snapping photos but looks like a sharp shinned hawk to this cowboy.

[Nymph]

I would say the sharp shinned also.

[Steve Foss]

Yup.

[Birdsong]

Nice of him to pose for you. I have had one hanging around the yard off and on all day today. He seems to be thinning the flock. The odd thing was, when I went out to get a photo, the chickadees were chattering up a storm farther back, but the cardinals came right in below him chipping in their usual call. They did not seem concerned at all. Too big do you suppose? Now I'm trying to figure out why I didn't grab pictures of the cardinals. They were sitting right in front of me! I was too busy focusing on the hawk.