terror from above

[choopes]

My dog alerted me to something in the yard. I caught the fleeting glimpse of large black looking bird as he flew off the high point of my barn. My chicken pen is on the far end of this barn. Could it be a hawk? What does a hawk attack look like? Do they carry their catch off with them?
He was pretty big. The size of a hawk or a buzzard. He seemed to make a caw-caw sound that I have heard before.

 

[sourland]

'caw caw' would be a crow or raven. Not certain whether or not you have ravens in Alabama. Buzzards to the best of my knowledge are non vocal, and hawks do not 'caw'.

 

[choopes]

Actually, the sound could have been coming from the woods, or something other than the large bird I saw. Way bigger than a crow or raven.