A Grand Hawk at the Grand New Year

I was sitting by the fireside in my old man's chair in the kitchen when I was startled out of my work by the commotion of a hawk attack. Although it was more in my periphery, I knew that this seemed like a larger-than-normal hawk. I first spotted him down in the drain lane just outside the kitchen bay windows, and he had a mourning dove pinned down in his claws. But when he tried to fly away with it, he lost his grip. By then, I'd grabbed my camera and zoom lens and was ready to try to see what might transpire.

He'd flown around towards the front of the house so I hoped I could follow the action from there.  I first spotted him on the utility lines in front of the house, and so I was able to start snapping shots of him:

Suddenly he swooped down to the planting bed in front of the porch, and then jumped up beside the front steps...with me standing right there!

From the porch steps he flew up to the power lines across the street from the house:

Then he flew up to the light pole at the bottom of the driveway:

Then he flew into the cherry tree closest to the house:

Then he zipped up to the peak of the roof over the kitchen:

And the last I saw of him, he was hiding on the cover on top of the taller chimney of the house:

He's definitely the largest and most mature hawk I've seen in and around the yard. It was fun tracking him that afternoon.